Parks Board Sees Plans For New Building
July 29, 2020 at 12:53 a.m.
Parks Board Sees Plans For New Building
By David [email protected]
The plan is for the new parks building to eventually be at the corner of East Fort Wayne and North Indiana streets.
In presenting the preliminary drawings and site plans, Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer said Design Collaborative is still working on the construction documents but he may have those by week’s end.
“So as we talked, originally we were just looking at putting the maintenance facility there, but as got into the project of the maintenance facility and the Center Lake Pavilion renovation and putting our offices there, between the two we just decided this would be a better location for the offices,” Plummer said, estimating a savings of $700,000 to $800,000 between the two projects by moving the offices to the maintenance facility.
Going over the design, he pointed out the facility would have five bays, a break/meeting room in the front, a tool crib for employees’ tools, five offices, restrooms and locker rooms for the park laborers, restrooms for the offices as well as a secure lobby.
For parking, there’s a couple of spaces out front, with overflow parking at the Indiana Street parking lot. There’s also an “adequate” parking lot for the parks department’s equipment and trucks.
“We do have a second story that is accessible above the offices. So if we ever need to expand or need storage, that is up there and that is an option. The cost to do that is very minimal to do it now, as opposed to get in there, run out of office space and try to do something afterward,” Plummer said.
He said it was “pretty scaled down” and “nothing flamboyant” and they were still looking at materials.
“It’s just going to come down to costs, it’s what it’s going to come down to,” Plummer said.
“It’s a very nice facility. Something that we need. As we talked before, there’s several advantages to having the offices there as opposed to at the pavilion,” Plummer said.
Those included that everything would be on the main level with no stairs for the public to climb and all of the parks’ employees can be together in one building.
Board President Steve Haines said, “I like the design. It looks nice.”
Michelle Boxell, board member, agreed the design looked nice and said she hoped they’d be able to use the park logo on the side of the building as rendered in the design.
“I think that having you all together, the entire staff ... makes sense,” she said.
Once the construction drawings are completed, Plummer said they can hold on to those and it could then go to bid any time – this year, next or whenever.
As part of the Parks Department’s five-year master plan, Plummer said this is the year to replace the playground equipment and picnic tables at Ker Park.
“In our inventory of that park – not only the playground, but the picnic tables there that were from Wabash Valley, and the sidewalks and things were put in many, many years ago and they are really deteriorating,” Plummer said. “So we were able to purchase the playground. We have brand new tables, we have receptacles. We also have three benches.”
He said he applied for the Sinclair GameTime Grant, as the Parks Department did last year for Kelly Park, and they were awarded that grant. The grant award was for $52,439.77.
“So we’re getting ... $104,879.54 worth of playground for $52,439.77,” Plummer said.
He said they went with a blue, grey and black color scheme because it matched the colors of the tables and trash cans they ordered.
Plummer said they had Warsaw Senior Planner Justin Taylor work up a new design scheme for the park. He asked the board for permission to start removing the old stuff at the park and get the timbers, swings, concrete work, picnic tables and everything else but the playground placed this year. The playground would be erected in spring 2021.
Board member Larry Ladd asked, “Is this the same footprint essentially as what is there now, playground-wise?”
Plummer said it wasn’t, it’s “much bigger.”
The board unanimously approved for the Parks Department to move forward with the work at Ker Park.
The plan is for the new parks building to eventually be at the corner of East Fort Wayne and North Indiana streets.
In presenting the preliminary drawings and site plans, Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer said Design Collaborative is still working on the construction documents but he may have those by week’s end.
“So as we talked, originally we were just looking at putting the maintenance facility there, but as got into the project of the maintenance facility and the Center Lake Pavilion renovation and putting our offices there, between the two we just decided this would be a better location for the offices,” Plummer said, estimating a savings of $700,000 to $800,000 between the two projects by moving the offices to the maintenance facility.
Going over the design, he pointed out the facility would have five bays, a break/meeting room in the front, a tool crib for employees’ tools, five offices, restrooms and locker rooms for the park laborers, restrooms for the offices as well as a secure lobby.
For parking, there’s a couple of spaces out front, with overflow parking at the Indiana Street parking lot. There’s also an “adequate” parking lot for the parks department’s equipment and trucks.
“We do have a second story that is accessible above the offices. So if we ever need to expand or need storage, that is up there and that is an option. The cost to do that is very minimal to do it now, as opposed to get in there, run out of office space and try to do something afterward,” Plummer said.
He said it was “pretty scaled down” and “nothing flamboyant” and they were still looking at materials.
“It’s just going to come down to costs, it’s what it’s going to come down to,” Plummer said.
“It’s a very nice facility. Something that we need. As we talked before, there’s several advantages to having the offices there as opposed to at the pavilion,” Plummer said.
Those included that everything would be on the main level with no stairs for the public to climb and all of the parks’ employees can be together in one building.
Board President Steve Haines said, “I like the design. It looks nice.”
Michelle Boxell, board member, agreed the design looked nice and said she hoped they’d be able to use the park logo on the side of the building as rendered in the design.
“I think that having you all together, the entire staff ... makes sense,” she said.
Once the construction drawings are completed, Plummer said they can hold on to those and it could then go to bid any time – this year, next or whenever.
As part of the Parks Department’s five-year master plan, Plummer said this is the year to replace the playground equipment and picnic tables at Ker Park.
“In our inventory of that park – not only the playground, but the picnic tables there that were from Wabash Valley, and the sidewalks and things were put in many, many years ago and they are really deteriorating,” Plummer said. “So we were able to purchase the playground. We have brand new tables, we have receptacles. We also have three benches.”
He said he applied for the Sinclair GameTime Grant, as the Parks Department did last year for Kelly Park, and they were awarded that grant. The grant award was for $52,439.77.
“So we’re getting ... $104,879.54 worth of playground for $52,439.77,” Plummer said.
He said they went with a blue, grey and black color scheme because it matched the colors of the tables and trash cans they ordered.
Plummer said they had Warsaw Senior Planner Justin Taylor work up a new design scheme for the park. He asked the board for permission to start removing the old stuff at the park and get the timbers, swings, concrete work, picnic tables and everything else but the playground placed this year. The playground would be erected in spring 2021.
Board member Larry Ladd asked, “Is this the same footprint essentially as what is there now, playground-wise?”
Plummer said it wasn’t, it’s “much bigger.”
The board unanimously approved for the Parks Department to move forward with the work at Ker Park.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092