I don't have a huge amount of info to share, but I did talk to a friend of mine who works for the US Army Corps of Engineers yesterday (and is somewhat involved in the project) and got some new info. Nothing is set in stone yet, but here were some of the general comments:
-The outflow area where the water drains in to the ditch may be moved to a different location. There was talk of moving the outflow drain to a different location and incorporating some type of little waterfall in the new location as well.
-There was also talk of either widening the existing stairs and/or adding a second set of stairs. This will help with the congestion when entering/exiting the hole, especially at peak times where there are swimmers and large scuba classes getting in and out.
-There are also plans to add some kind of "swim-in" entrance for scuba divers. This would be a separate area with a concrete type channel (not real sure of all the specifics on this) along with a large area with benches for divers to assemble and put on their gear. The idea being that divers would have another place to get set up, get into the water right near the setup area, and then swim a short distance into the Hole, bypassing the need to use the separate stairs to get in and out.
-The new diveshop/visitors center/staging area building is in the plans, and it appears to coincide with the tear-down of the existing building, since it looks like the footprint of the new building covers the location of the existing building. It looks like this will include some type of indoor area, possibly new locker rooms, with a walk-out that leads right to the new divers staging area I mentioned in item 3.
-There was also mention of making changes to the parking lot. Nothing specific on it it will be paved or not. It sounded like mostly cosmetic changes, landscaping, making it more "park-like", and those kinds of things. This might fit in partially with the what the city had in its business plan to make the area more attractive to non-divers also, maybe some walking trails, etc.
-As for underwater changes, the only thing that I have heard of is some work to help secure some of the side walls and rocks. It sounded like there was some talk in the past of using some of that metal mesh they use like in landslide areas to help secure some areas, but it sounds like that idea has been nixed. As of now they are thinking of using rock bolts (some type of big bolt anchors) to secure some of the areas that are most at risk of moving, collapsing, etc.
It looks like the timeframe for alot of this is going to be this summer. According to the USACE, they are try to time these changes to be completed this summer, and most of their work is to come after the new building is in place. If this is true, it means that we should see the new building started soon, atleast by the end of spring.
Of course all of this could change at any moment, but that is the plan for now. This is only the USACE's part in this, there are many other entities involved who could be planning on more changes than I have listed here.
I also have this listed here:
http://jasonmh.spaces.live.com
-The outflow area where the water drains in to the ditch may be moved to a different location. There was talk of moving the outflow drain to a different location and incorporating some type of little waterfall in the new location as well.
-There was also talk of either widening the existing stairs and/or adding a second set of stairs. This will help with the congestion when entering/exiting the hole, especially at peak times where there are swimmers and large scuba classes getting in and out.
-There are also plans to add some kind of "swim-in" entrance for scuba divers. This would be a separate area with a concrete type channel (not real sure of all the specifics on this) along with a large area with benches for divers to assemble and put on their gear. The idea being that divers would have another place to get set up, get into the water right near the setup area, and then swim a short distance into the Hole, bypassing the need to use the separate stairs to get in and out.
-The new diveshop/visitors center/staging area building is in the plans, and it appears to coincide with the tear-down of the existing building, since it looks like the footprint of the new building covers the location of the existing building. It looks like this will include some type of indoor area, possibly new locker rooms, with a walk-out that leads right to the new divers staging area I mentioned in item 3.
-There was also mention of making changes to the parking lot. Nothing specific on it it will be paved or not. It sounded like mostly cosmetic changes, landscaping, making it more "park-like", and those kinds of things. This might fit in partially with the what the city had in its business plan to make the area more attractive to non-divers also, maybe some walking trails, etc.
-As for underwater changes, the only thing that I have heard of is some work to help secure some of the side walls and rocks. It sounded like there was some talk in the past of using some of that metal mesh they use like in landslide areas to help secure some areas, but it sounds like that idea has been nixed. As of now they are thinking of using rock bolts (some type of big bolt anchors) to secure some of the areas that are most at risk of moving, collapsing, etc.
It looks like the timeframe for alot of this is going to be this summer. According to the USACE, they are try to time these changes to be completed this summer, and most of their work is to come after the new building is in place. If this is true, it means that we should see the new building started soon, atleast by the end of spring.
Of course all of this could change at any moment, but that is the plan for now. This is only the USACE's part in this, there are many other entities involved who could be planning on more changes than I have listed here.
I also have this listed here:
http://jasonmh.spaces.live.com
