Park $ will be delayed (8/10/05)

Portland Park Board members learned Tuesday that it will be 15 to 18 months before the city sees any of the $560,000 it has been awarded for the planned Hudson Family Park.

Nola Albrecht, landscape architect for The Schneider Corporation, said Indiana Department of Transportation officials have to review plans for the park several times before they will send the money to the city. Schneider has been hired to do the engineering work for the park project.

The city is required to provide a $140,000 match for the Transportation Enhancement grant. Albrecht said INDOT officials will need proof that the money for the match has been set aside before the grant funds will be released to the city.

This funding has been earmarked to create walking paths and trails throughout the new park. Any work city employees do on the trails could be used as credit toward the city’s match of the grant, she said.

State officials confirmed on July 19 that the city had been awarded the grant funds.

In preliminary drawings Albrecht presented to the board Tuesday night, the entrance to the park — phase one of the project — includes one-half mile of trails. The trails start at the park entrance and run to the pedestrian bridge planned to be installed across the Salamonie River, near Portland Pool. They also will run from the park entrance to the existing nature trails located in the woods. Current plans call for the park entrance to be from Wayne Street, near Union Street.

Albrecht said bid letting for work on the park entrance could begin in early September, with construction starting shortly after. The city plans to use $48,289 of its cumulative capital development funds and $176,052 of its economic development income tax funds to cover the park entrance construction costs.

The drawings Albrecht presented Tuesday also included plans for the location of a pond, an amphitheater, a gazebo, a playground, parking and a park for dogs. The cost to develop the more than 34-acre park has been estimated at $3.4 million.

In related news, the Portland Board of Works this morning accepted the low bid to demolish the former hatchery building, located at 509 S. Wayne St. The building is set to be torn down to make way for the planned park.

SBI, Shroyer Brothers Inc. of Muncie submitted a $67,250 bid and said the razing should take 15 to 20 days to complete, interim clerk-treasurer Tina Paxson said following this morning’s meeting.

Three other bids also were submitted and reviewed by board of works members Linda Kennedy, Bob McCreery and Mayor Bruce Hosier. The bids included the cost of tearing down the building and removing the debris.

Last week, David Dixon, senior architect with Schneider, said he and the other architects would review the bids and make a recommendation to the board. He estimated the razing would take about three weeks to complete.

Also Tuesday, the park board:

•Heard Portland Pool manager Jennifer Snow report that as of June 29, the pool had collected a total of $13,914. As of June 28 last year, only $11,909 had been collected.

Park board president Neil Medler said the hot weather this summer probably contributed to the high attendance at the pool.

In a related matter, the board granted Snow permission to have the pool open only on weekends after school begins on Monday, Aug. 22. After school starts, the pool will be open from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. It also will be open on Labor Day, which is Monday, Sept. 5, from noon to 5 p.m. It will then close for the year.

•Gave street and park department superintendent Jeff Harker permission to post signs at the kiddie play area at Haynes Park. The signs will remind visitors that pets are not allowed in the play area and the new playground equipment is for children ages 12 and younger.

Harker said children older than 12 have been playing on the equipment, and pets have been relieving themselves nearby.[[In-content Ad]]