Pair developed a kayaking course through downtown area
By Jim Harger
MLive.com
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Chip Richards and Chris Muller say their love of natural areas and the Grand River led them to create Grand Rapids Whitewater.
Muller, a 41-year-old Calvin College graduate with a degree in economics, is a busy commercial real estate developer whose business, M Retail, specializes in creating trendy retail spaces that promote sustainability.
Raised in New Mexico, Muller moved to Grand Rapids in 1988 with his parents as a high school senior. He moved to Washington, D.C., after college and worked in real estate there until moving back to Grand Rapids in 2005.
Richards, 52, is a West Michigan native and graduate of Forest Hills Northern High School. He is a stay-at-home dad whose resume includes a degree in finance from Michigan State University, a 15-year stint in commercial photography, Lake Tahoe ski bum and Alaskan fishing guide.
The pair, who met while mountain biking, seized on the idea of developing a kayaking course through the downtown area as part of the brainstorming sessions associated with Green Grand Rapids, a rewrite of the city’s master plan.
Since then, their dream of creating a kayaking course has blossomed into a full-blown campaign to restore the rapids that once roared through the city. “We’re a group that wants to make this place better,” Muller says.
“I can’t believe a city of this size hasn’t done anything with the river yet,” says Richards. “We just landed on Mars - we can do this.”
Last year, the group received an Environmental Protection Agency grant through the Grand Valley Metro Council that was used to study the riverbed.
That study by Colorado-based River Restoration concluded much of the original riverbed was intact upstream from the Sixth Street Dam. Fears that the river was polluted with toxic sediments upstream from the dam were unfounded.
That clean bill of health fueled their desire to return the river to a more natural state, Muller says. “People assume it’s polluted because it looks like a ditch,” he says.
“This is just a continuation of cleaning up the river and its image,” says Richards, noting the city is already spending $300 million to remove sewer overflows from spilling into the river.
Grand Rapids Whitewater is now circulating an “Opportunities and Constraints” report that concludes the river could be restored, provided a sea lamprey barrier is built upstream from the rapids and public and private grants can be found for the $27.5 million project.
The restoration project would not only create a kayaking course, they argue the idea also would enhance the river’s fishery and boost downtown economy by making it a more attractive place to gather for recreation and relaxation.
Richards says the project reverses 150 years of environmental abuse. “Instead of taking from the river, we’re giving back.”
The pair has sold local politicians including Mayor George Heartwell and the Downtown Development Authority on the idea, which has given them $125,000 to conduct further studies.
Muller said they hope to complete fundraising and design work in 2013 with actual restoration work beginning in 2014. He said the restoration of the river should take at least two construction seasons.
“We know each step is going to require exponentially more money,” says Muller. “We have great momentum toward all of them.”
