Eagle Coalition Seeks $1.2 Million to Rebuild Dangerous Park Wave

Eagle’s man-made wave isn’t just broken. It’s dangerous.

That is the hard truth Jon Christensen and Lachie Thomas are selling to the community. The park’s wave, once a celebrated piece of infrastructure, has devolved into a liability. It’s not merely underperforming; it’s failing to deliver the high-performance features promised and creating safety hazards for surfers, kayakers, and boaters alike.

The fix? A rebuild that will cost roughly $1.2 million for the first wave alone.

The coalition behind the project didn’t wait for permission. They held a “Surf Movie Night” right there at the site. From 6 to 9 p.m., locals gathered for a raffle, a silent auction, and free beer. The centerpiece was a film about Scout Wave 2.0 in Salida, Colorado — a successful rebuild that debuted in 2022. The message was clear: this works elsewhere. It can work here.

Lachie Thomas, president of the Eagle River Park Coalition and a Sydney native who moved to Eagle in 2005, sees this as more than just a hobby fix. He remembers when the original waves, built in 2018 and fully operational by 2019, brought generations together. Young kids played in the shallows while adults surfed the rollers. The community bond was tangible. Now, that bond is fraying.

“The idea was that the (wave) was going to have some high-performance features and some more mellow features, but instead it’s been not working and also a bit dangerous,” Christensen said. He pointed to the Salida model as proof of concept. The group isn’t reinventing the wheel; they’re copying a blueprint that already exists downstream.

The financial picture is stark. Engineering the new design could run close to $125,000. The actual construction? About $1.2 million for the first wave at the top of the park. The original funding came from a 0.5% sales tax increase approved by Eagle voters. That’s a specific, local burden. The new wave won’t get that same easy lift. Thomas says the coalition is hunting for grant support to cover the engineering costs. The construction phase will rely on a patchwork of grants, private funds, and money from the town of Eagle.

It’s a fragile funding stack. One grant rejection or budget cut could stall the whole thing.

Thomas emphasized that safety is the primary driver, not just nostalgia. The current wave features are causing issues. Surfers are getting hurt. Boaters are navigating unpredictable hydraulics. The coalition has been talking to Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the local river group to ensure they’re not just building a bigger splash, but a safer one.

“We really want to do this right,” Thomas said.

The community showed up for the movie night. They bought raffle tickets. They drank the beer. But enthusiasm doesn’t pay for concrete and steel. The gap between a movie night and a $1.2 million construction project is wide. The coalition has the momentum. They have the model. They just need the money to turn the tide.

The question isn’t whether the wave can be rebuilt. It’s whether Eagle voters and grant writers will cough up the cash to fix what the original sales tax increase failed to maintain.