PORT JERVIS – As Port Jervis officials continue to work through the bureaucratic process to gain government approvals to create a whitewater park in the Upper Delaware River, one government agency has approved its paperwork.
Mayor Kelly Decker said the Army Corps of Engineers has okayed its portion the city’s filings. There is more to be done, though.
“There was a list of about 30 point items from the Fish and Wildlife Service. Most of them are easily answered questions and talks about mostly what they are looking at is dwarf wedge mussels, which aren’t present in the main flow of the river, so we are looking on good shape there,” the mayor said. “We just have to answer their questions and we will hear back from them.”
Once the approvals are granted, Decker would like to place the issue
of creating the park before a referendum of city voters. Assuming it would
be approved and built, the mayor said it could mean an economic landslide
for Port Jervis in terms of large influxes of tourists, new businesses,
restaurants and hotels.
