The New Millennia Committee reviewed finalized plans for the recreational park to be developed at the
north edge of the city. Farnsworth engineer Jeff Gastel reviewed the features of the park and gave the
committee the order in which each part of the park would be completed. Gastel wants to advertise bids for
park construction by April 28 and then open the bids by the middle of May. Awarding of the contract to construct
the park will be done the first week of June.
The committee decided to use concrete instead of asphalt for the hockey rink and skate board park because it
will require less maintenance in the long run even though it initially will be more costly to install. In addition,
concrete is less prone to cracks, is smoother and will cause less accidents. Committee member Bob Hakes said that it is important to
make the skate park as safe as possible.
The restroom facilities will include a pavilion at the east end of the structure. The restrooms will
include automatic toilet flushes and automatic shutoffs on the water faucets. The structure will include a
service area from the inside part of the pavilion end of the building where concessions can be served. The restrooms
will be heated so that they can be used during the winter when people will be ice skating on the hockey rink.
The restroom building will be built of a decorative cement block and have 8 by 8 wooden posts to support the pavilion
portion.
A transformer pad will be placed between the restrooms and the hockey rink to provide night lighting for the
hockey rink and the skate board park.
The committee decided to use volunteers to help construct the fence and dasher board around the hockey rink. Gastel
said this will save the committee about $10,000 - $15,000 in labor and will take about 3 days to complete with
supervision from the contractor.
The landscaping includes 55 trees that will be let out for bid. Landscaping and seeding will be the last thing
to be done, probably around the end of August according to Gastel. The trees that will be planted are as follows:
4 Red Sunset Maples, 2 Sugar Maples, 4 Autumn Applause White Ash, 2 Summit Green Ash, 1 River's Purple Beech,
6 Prairiefire Crabapple, 2 Aristocrat Flowering Pear, 13 White Spruce to be planted as a barrier along the parking lot,
5 Austrian Pine, 7 Colorado Blue Spruce, 3 Swamp White Oak, 3 Greenspire Littleleaf Linden, and 3 Common Baldcypress.
Committee member Bob Hakes said he hopes that members of the community will donate trees to the park in memory
of loved ones to help add to the landscape.
