Whitewater channel project in Danville receives $3 million in state budget

The recently approved state budget includes $3 million for a whitewater channel along the Dan River in Danville, which is expected to be both a source of recreation and a first-responder training facility.

There is no set price tag for the project yet since it is in the early stages of planning, said Bill Sgrinia, Danville’s director of parks and recreation.

“It is early to be definite on the cost,” Sgrinia said. “We are projecting in the $18 to $20 million dollar range. But it is early.”

The city must provide a two-for-one match of state funds from non-state sources.

Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, who sponsored the budget amendment , said that the unique kind of rescue training that this project will provide will be a draw for visitors.

“You can go to a river now and do whitewater rescue training, but the problem is, if there’s an accident or something like that, you can’t turn the river off,” Marshall said.

The whitewater channel in Danville will allow the volume of water to be adjusted, making it a more reliable place to train.

“This is not only going to be good for the Danville Life Saving Crew, but it also will be able to attract other, similar lifesaving crews for training, not only here in Southside but also in the state of Virginia, North Carolina, et cetera,” Marshall said. “From what I understand, there’s not another one of these anywhere close to Danville.”

There is no concrete timeline for the project, though other adjacent projects will be completed first.

A riverfront park is under construction , as is the White Mill, a former Dan River Mills building that sat empty for years and is being transformed into a mixed-use development . The whitewater channel is expected to run in front of the renovated mill.

“There’s part of the channel that’s in front of the White Mill now, and it would actually be extended further, down toward the park and then out into the river,” Sgrinia said.

While the park and the White Mill renovation are slated to be complete by the end of 2024, the whitewater channel likely won’t be finished for a few years after that, he said.

The engineer for the Danville project is Scott Shipley, a former Olympic slalom canoeist who now runs S2o Design and Engineering in Colorado. According to his conceptual design study , whitewater parks are a growing trend in the U.S. that can make an economic impact on a community.

The channel in Danville is being designed to include adjustable whitewater features, so that it is appropriate for a variety of activities including tubing, whitewater paddling, competitions and river rescue training.

“We could put vehicles in the water and turn on lights at night, and we really think that we’ll see people coming from all over to train here,” Sgrinia said.

Once these projects are completed, the Dan River, which was primarily used for industrial purposes in the past, will become a place for recreation for the residents of Danville.

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