Residents raise engineering concerns about Lake Overlook Park revetment design; council asks for meeting minutes and design details

During public comment at the Mentor on the Lake City Council meeting, residents urged the council to reconsider aspects of proposed shoreline work for Lake Overlook Park, saying project drawings rely on small rock sizes and a narrow base that may be vulnerable to storm waves.

Why it matters: Shoreline or revetment design affects public safety, private properties and city liability along the lakefront. Residents with long experience on the lake told council that the current design drawings, as presented at Parks and Recreation meetings, do not incorporate rock sizes or base geometry they expect would resist repeated wave action.

Speakers described concern that the drawings depict roughly 1,200‑pound rocks and a uniform 4‑foot-wide wall footing, whereas residents said successful revetments they’ve observed use much larger stone and a broader, pyramidal base to resist tipping and washout. One resident said she photographed other nearby revetment installations with substantially larger boulders and questioned whether the city’s design math and assumptions were correct.

Councilors responded that minutes from the Parks and Recreation meeting would be shared after approval and invited the resident to provide the photos and observations to staff for review. Council noted the design would be reviewed by the steering committee and in a public Envision meeting scheduled for June 5.

No formal action was taken on the revetment design at the meeting; residents asked the council and staff to provide documentation on who prepared the math and design assumptions, and to clarify the materials and rock sizes planned for any shoreline structure.