ASHTABULA — Collapse of the River Marine Supply Co. and Fish Cleaning Station may be linked to the Ashtabula River dredging or lift bridge repairs, owner Al Carano said Monday.

U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers met with marina owners Monday afternoon to assess damages and discuss a course of action.

“The first step is to find out what caused it,” LaTourette said.

Carano said engineers with the Cincinnati Insurance Co. said the collapse was not caused by erosion and it is possible it may be connected to the recent river dredging project in the Ashtabula River or the ongoing lift bridge project.

The property itself has been standing for more than 100 years and was the former home of Maxwell Industry Steel Co. The bait shop was built on the property in the mid 1980s. Sheriff William Johnson owned the shop for a little more than 19 years before selling it to Carano two years ago. Johnson is still a partial owner of the property.

Within a matter of about six days, a crack the size of a hair, escalated into the major collapse on the property. The entire front porch of the building as well as the docks dropped into the river. The crack has expanded to several feet in width, forcing the concrete into the river.

“We’re not talking about a foundation with a tiny sidewalk,” Johnson said. “We’re talking about a massive foundation with (re-enforcements).”

Johnson told LaTourette the marina has been there for 25 years and never had any problems.

“Now we have a river that’s dredged deeper than it’s ever been and a bridge in an upright position for the first time and here’s River Marine in the middle with no foundation,” Johnson said.

The lift bridge has been in an upright position since the project began in April. LaTourette said he was not aware the lift bridge was being rehabilitated until he arrived at the site Monday afternoon.

“I’m going to have to investigate the bridge being up,” he said.

LaTourette said he can not say with certainty it was the river dredging or the lift bridge project that could have caused the collapse.

“I think we have to do more to figure out what it is,” he said. “(Carano) said the engineers with the insurance company think its a possible cause but when we got here and saw this, where they dredged and how deep they dredged don’t correlate with what’s happened here.”

“The dredging of the Ashtabula River was a wonderful, wonderful thing to do,” he said. “If this is an unfortunate cause then we will take care of it.”

LaTourette said once the cause of the collapse is determined, he will look into possibility of allocating funding for the repairs.