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Waupaca plans sledding hill, ice rink at Swan Park

Work is scheduled to begin next month on a project that will add a sledding hill, amphitheater and ice rink/basketball court to Swan Park.

Foundry sand from ThyssenKrupp Waupaca will be used for the project. It will be done at no cost to the city.

“We’ve been working with ThyssenKrupp since 1999. Hundreds of projects have been completed. We act as a broker of the material. We go out and knock on doors to use the material per code,” said Scott Huget, project manager for Benefical Reuse Management, of Milwaukee.

He presented the plan for Swan Park during a Nov. 10 informational meeting at the Waupaca Recreation Center. About 20 people attended it.

Dan Schuurman, BRM’s regional manager, said he first talked to John Edlebeck, the city’s director of public works, about the sledding hill about a year ago.

BRM contracts with the foundry and other companies to find uses for their industrial byproducts. BRM is always looking for potential projects in the area that are in proximity to the foundry.

Locally, foundry sand was used on the County Trunk X project and to build a baseball field and amphitheater at St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Community.

Plans call for a tenative start date of mid-December for the project at Swan Park, with completion in about 2 1/2 years.

The sledding hill will be 42 feet high, and there will be a staging area at the top of it. The existing trail system in the park will be incorporated into the hill, Huget said.

The hill will be designed for multiple uses – sledding in the winter and hiking other times of the year.

The project will take place west and south of Bob Zeman Way. The amphitheater will be built at the south side of the hill and the ice rink/basketball court on the north side. The addition of parking and lighting will also be included.

With the project encompassing more than one acre, BRM needs to obtain a construction stormwater permit. The company expects to have that by early December.

Huget said there will be two temporary stormwater retention ponds that will be fenced.

A total of 185,000 cubic yards of foundry sand and furnace slag will be used for the construction of the sledding hill and amphitheater, he said.

The hill and amphitheater will be constructed in phases, with between 35 and 45 loads hauled there per day, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

BRM will coordinate its schedule with the city and not work during times that the park is busy with events and activities.

The material will come from ThyssenKrupp Waupaca’s three plants and will be hauled via State Highway 49 to Larson Road, to Brainerd Drive and then to Bob Zeman Way.

“We will cover it with native soils and seed it as soon as possible,” Huget said. “Water will be available to prevent fugitive dust.”

Schuurman said BRM will be responsbile for any repairs that need to be done on the roads that they use.

“Everything proposed on the site plan will be our responsibility to install through sub-contractors,” he said. “We don’t want to go overboard on lighting the sled hill. It will be just enough to serve the purpose.”

Schuurman said the lighting will not impact the surrounding residential area; it will be positioned down onto the project.

“We looked at if there was any way to construct the hill where it will be usable by next year, but we don’t think so,” he said. “We anticipate getting the ice rink and basketball court done as soon as possible, so they could be used while we finish.”

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