Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Massillon band buses crash after playoff loss; students and driver injured
Akron police chase wild driver
Letters to the editor - Nov. 29
Former model to speak out on AIDS
Four police officers killed in ambush in Tacoma
Redesigned Ohio license plate is busy but better
Latest in jail fashion: color-coded stripes
Friends' bond inspires viewers
Blogs:
Pets:
Dog makes off with family's frozen Thanksgiving turkey
The Heldenfiles:
Happy Thanksgiving
Patrick McManamon:
The Browns are behind the 1999 expansion pace
Akron Zips:
Zips soccer advances to Elite Eight
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Strange series
Kent State Sports:
Kent State beats Morehead State 63-57
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Cavs vs. Dallas Mavericks
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeye Football – Present and Future
Varsity Letters:
Gridlocks Playoff Edition Week 4
All Da King's Men:
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Sanctimonious Fiends
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (74) Public Option "Trigger" in the News Again
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
What Automotive Thing Are You Thankful For?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Dubai Bubble Bursting?????
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Jeanne inquires – what is the best place to see Amish country?
Sound Check:
On The Town: Top Entertainment Picks
HRLite House:
Genetic Discrimination
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
Families seek to build private body of water in Portage County
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Tuesday, May 06, 2008
FREEDOM TWP: An unusual body of water is on the drawing boards in northeastern Portage County.
The proposal calls for a lake, up to 9 feet deep, covering 101/2 acres. It would be long — 2,300 feet, nearly a half-mile — and skinny — only 200 feet wide. There would be two circular areas at each end.
The lake would be private, used by three families of devoted water skiers.
The families, two from Portage County and one from Summit, have formed a company — MFL Properties LLC — to build the lake.
''We are all water-ski nuts . . . and maybe we're a little obsessed,'' said spokesman David Brode of Shalersville Township, who is involved in the project along with Larry Lang of Ravenna Township and Mark DePew of Hudson.
The families have 13 water skiers among them, said Brode, 50, who's an assistant Portage County prosecutor.
An Ohio Environmental Protection Agency hearing on the proposal was held April 28. Before the lake can be built off Nichols Road, the company needs approval from both the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Creating the lake would have an impact on 2.19 acres of wetlands and 340 feet of streams that drain to Sand and Hinkley creeks.
The 96-acre site is now a farm field. It's north of the Ravenna Arsenal and south of state Route 303, just west of the intersection with Smalley Road.
Brode said that location was chosen because the land was among the flattest and most reasonably priced that the three families could find in Portage County.
''You don't want to move mountains of dirt if you don't have to,'' he said.
No house is planned there — just the lake, which will not be open to the public, he said, adding that the site might be used for water-skiing tournaments.
Detailed plans were prepared by Hammontree & Associates Ltd., which has offices in North Canton.
MFL Properties would rely largely on rain water and melting snow that now goes into roadside ditches to fill up the lake. No stream would be dammed, and there's no nearby water source to tap.
The lake would be 9 feet at its deepest. It would step to 6 feet of water and then to 3 feet of water. Brode said that design would reduce waves — the No. 1 enemy of water skiers — and minimize shore erosion.
The water skiers would be towed by a 19-foot ski boat with a V8 in-board engine with up to 350 horsepower, he said. The lake would have a slalom course in which skiers would negotiate around six balls.
The three families currently water ski on a private lake in Deerfield Township in southeastern Portage County and at West Branch State Park east of Ravenna.
There are a few other water-ski lakes in Northeast Ohio, including one in Norton, one in Trumbull County and several in Geauga County, Brode said.
He declined to say how much money the families were investing to build their own lake.
''We're all pretty crazy about water skiing,'' he said. ''It's something we enjoy and something we all spend a lot of time doing. . . . We'd all be out skiing every day if we could.''
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
FREEDOM TWP: An unusual body of water is on the drawing boards in northeastern Portage County.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
