After two years of heavy construction, Sharon Lake at Sharon Woods in Sharonville is officially back in action. The 35-acre basin was drained, dredged and rebuilt from the shoreline in, with the overhaul adding new boardwalks, a doubled wetland area and a floating kayak launch intended to make the lakeshore easier to explore for people of all abilities. Anglers will need to be patient though, because fishing is off-limits for now while crews repopulate the fishery and let the habitat recover.
According to Great Parks of Hamilton County, the Sharon Lake Improvement Project wrapped this month, with the lake and loop trail back open and most site work complete. Great Parks puts the combined design and construction tab at more than $17 million and notes that the upgrades include new boardwalks, expanded wetlands and measures designed to cut down on future siltation.
How the Lake Was Rebuilt
Contractors drained the lake in spring 2024, scooped out decades of built-up sediment and reused much of that material to construct new wetlands and rock weirs that slow future silt build-up. The lake had not been dredged since the late 1980s, and work records show dredging occurred from 1986 to 1988, which crews say made a deep excavation necessary to restore both water quality and recreational depth. The staged draining, dredging and refill has already brought back turtles and other wildlife, as reported by DredgeWire.
Fishing, Boating and Accessibility…