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Charles City Council concurs with decision to dismantle skate park

  • Pictures by Tyler Mitchell, Charles City Parks and Recreation director, show problems with the equipment at the skatepark at Lion's Field, which the city will dismantle. Submitted photo

  • Pictures by Tyler Mitchell, Charles City Parks and Recreation director, show problems with the equipment at the skatepark at Lion's Field, which the city will dismantle. Submitted photo

  • Pictures by Tyler Mitchell, Charles City Parks and Recreation director, show problems with the equipment at the skatepark at Lion's Field, which the city will dismantle. Submitted photo

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By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Parks and Recreation Department will dismantle the skate park at Lion’s field because of its deteriorating condition and potential liability concerns.

The Parks and Rec Board had recently decided to take down the park, and Parks and Rec Director Tyler Mitchell was at the Charles City Council workshop meeting to inform the council members of the action.

The skate park “is in pretty rough shape,” Mitchell said, and he included a series of photos of warped, peeling, loose plywood; rotten support frames; screws poking out; and other problems.

“We’ve tried new screws, new adhesives, nothing is holding,” he said.

Council member Phoebe Pittman said it was clear the current park had “outlived its usefulness,” but she said she would like to see a new skate park either there or somewhere else.

“Long-term, I’d like there to be a skate park,” she said.

Council member DeLaine Freeseman said he had gone by the skate park over the weekend and there were eight to 10 kids trying to use it even in the condition it’s in.

Mitchell and council members talked briefly about options to replace the park. He said Osage has a nice skate park made mostly of steel.

“I’ve looked into it a little bit,” he said, adding it would cost “anywhere from 40 to 50 thousand (dollars), probably, for our size if we want a good one that’s going to last a while, that’s mostly metal. I haven’t looked at a concrete one.”

Mayor Dean Andrews was at the Parks and Rec Board meeting where members decided the skate park should be taken apart.

“We didn’t think it needed council approval, as far as formal council approval at a meeting,” Andrews said. “We just wanted to have council consensus that it’s a good idea to remove it, and it sounds like that’s what everybody is saying.”

Addressing Mitchell, Andrews said, “I think, Tyler, that the feeling from the council is it’s time to dismantle the skate park and then start to look at what future options might be.”

Also at the meeting Monday evening:

• The council discussed a change order and work directive for the water resource recovery facility (WRRF).

Lance Aldrich with Fox Engineering said there were a few changes, adding about $7,500, such as putting in plumbing in a room at the facility in case they want to install a toilet there at some time, installing the frame and electrical outlet for a power heist the department already has to make it easier to service pumps, and adding additional clamps for the membranes on the digesters that are part of the system.

A change in the electrical access boxes suggested by the project electrician will save $24,000, so the total difference in cost is a reduction of $16,546.

A larger issue with the WRRF is the necessity to spend up to about $100,000 to remove about 70 truckloads of old tires, appliances and other garbage that was discovered in areas where new pipes are being laid, Aldrich said.

The site is being built near an old landfill, and Aldrich said a fence that was being used to gauge the location of the old landfill was moved about 10 years ago, leading them to think the old landfill was farther away than it actually is.

• The council discussed accepting the title to a home at 200 Kelly Street that was damaged in a fire in the spring. City Administrator Steve Diers said the owner of the property has said he would turn over the deed to the city, and Diers suggested that perhaps the trades classes at Charles City High School could renovate the home as a project.

“The house doesn’t look too terribly bad,” Diers said, and added that the city would likely end up with the property eventually anyway, and accepting the deed would be easier than going through a nuisance property claim.

• The council discussed the need to hire Calhoun Burns and Associates for the construction phase of the the Charley Western Recreation Trail bridge over the Cedar River.

City Engineer John Fallis said the project originally estimated Calhoun Burns’ cost for the construction phase at $125,000, but it would more likely be up to about $200,000 because the contract awarded for the bridge construction gave bid winner Godbersen Smith Construction much longer to complete the project.

Because federal aid through the Iowa Department of Transportation is included in the project, the engineering firm must have someone on site whenever work is being done, Fallis said.

• Discussed upgrading sanitary sewer and water mains along parts of Highway 18 through the city prior to a state DOT project next year that will replace asphalt on a segment of the highway.

• Discusses a drainage improvement project that would include three locations: storm sewer extension in the 1100 block of South Grand Avenue near the Comet Bowl, a diversion ditch in the 500 and 600 blocks of J Street, and site drainage at the Art Center building.

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