MILFORD — The city has hired a bio-engineering firm from Delaware County, Ohio, to design a plan to stop a serious erosion problem along the Little Miami River that is eating away at a park and has made a baseball field unusable.

        If the design is approved by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers, then the city will contract with Oxbow River and Stream Restoration Inc. to solve the erosion problem before the year is over.

        The city is using a $47,000 NatureWorks grant from the state, awarded earlier this year, and city funds to pay for the $129,000 project along the Little Miami at the foot of Race Street in downtown Milford.

        The park is the site of the city's annual Frontier Days festival. Last month, the city fenced off the dangerous riverbank edge during Frontier Days.

        “Last year alone in the course of just a month and a half of heavy rains we lost 10 feet of riverbank,” said Mayor Jim Antell. “It's just melting away.”

        The riverbank runs along the outfield and drops precipitously eight to 12 feet straight down. The ball field is no longer usable; grass grows on the infield obscuring the base paths and any ball hit past an outfielder would be lost to the river. Loretta Rokey, city manager, said several feet of riverbank is being lost a year. City officials noticed that it was becoming a serious erosion problem two years ago.

        Steve Phillips, owner of Oxbow River, said his firm will propose grading the steep riverbank into a gentle slope.

        “You'll be able to walk right down to the river,” said Mr. Phillips. “It won't be such a hazard. It will be a stable slope that will vegetate almost naturally, but we'll give that a jump-start with a lot of willows or dogwoods. Those are fast-growing, deep-rooted, spreading plants. We use a lot of plant material to reinforce the soil.”

        The project will not restore the ball field. “It's not going to bring back the lost dimensions of that field,” said Mr. Antell, adding the point of the project is to stabilize the riverbank so more ground isn't lost.

        “A lot of people go down there just to enjoy the view, to walk, fish; so this will make it a lot safer.”

        Mr. Phillips said it could take several weeks to get state and Corps of Engineers approval of the project once the preliminary design is completed.

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