Art center stairs project costs increase, but so does imagination

Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

The mortar under the Charles City Art Center stairs was in worse shape than expected, but the hole created by the repair project has piqued children’s imaginations.

The stair repair is expected to add $26,625 to the original $48,143 contract, said Charles City Engineer John Fallis.

Despite the increase in cost the stairs are set to be completed by the end of June, in time for RAGBRAI visitors.

The work being done on the stairs hasn’t dampened the spirits of the kids who frequent the center.

After seeing the large hole created by the project, they determined a dragon lived inside, and where there are dragons there must be fairies, said art center Director Jacqueline Davidson.

To combat the dragon, the children made fairy gardens in back, from toys and lawn ornaments provided by the Art Center and grandparents, Davidson said.

The kids first came up with the idea by looking out the door where the construction was taking place and seeing the large hole where the stairs used to be.

“It was noted that it looked like a dragon cave,” Davidson said.

The children reasoned that if there are dragons there must be fairies, and Davidson happened to have a fairy garden at her house, built by neighborhood kids who had grown older and lost interest, she said.

“So I brought it here,” Davidson said.

Davidson encourages everyone to contribute to the fairy garden, and plans to have it up all summer, from June to August.

Construction

Meanwhile, the stairs project keeps chugging along.

“We thought it would take a couple of months. The actual construction people didn’t think it’ll take that long,” Davidson said. “We’re just thrilled that they’re here.”

In the process of taking the stairs apart, the construction company, RDG Planning and Design, found that the structure wasn’t as stable as it needed it to be.

The Art Center is more than 110 years old, Fallis said.

“The mortar between the bricks has basically turned to powder,” he said. “The weight of the stone stairs was keeping it together.”

The solution to fixing the stairs is to rebuild with concrete blocks and add new footing to the base, Fallis said.

“We had to remove it to really see what was in there,” he said.

The stone stairs were going to flipped over, thinking the bottom surfaces wouldn’t have any wear, but the bottoms turned out to be uneven. After looking at their condition it was determined that the surface will stay the same and be resealed, Fallis said.

The previous week’s storms didn’t cause any problems with the rebuilding process despite a tree falling nearby.

The increased cost for the renovation is coming from the need to remove the old mortar and brick and the additional masonry required. The increase will be presented to the Charles City Council as a change order at the next regular council meeting, June 5.

“Since we were doing it, we want to do it right,” Fallis said.