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Back to the drawing board

The first phase of improvements for Waupaca’s South Park is being redesigned to fit within the project’s budget.

Two options are expected to be presented to the Common Council by the end of this month.

One approach will incorporate different materials into the proposed pavilion without sacrificing the design of it, while the other will be a redesign of the pavilion.

“A couple weeks ago, you got your first peak at the project,” City Administrator Henry Veleker told the council during its July 2 meeting.

He was referring to the council’s June 18 meeting.

That is when MSA Professional Services, the city’s consultant on the project, presented the Phase I design to the council and told it the estimated cost was $907,000.

The original budget for Phase I was $619,000.

It is now $678,296.

That is because the Wisconsin Stewardship Grant the city received is $339,148, rather than the $309,500 the city expected to receive.

The city has to match the $339,148 grant and is doing so with $230,000 in private donations and a donation of city land valued at $59,295,. The balance of the match – $49,853 – is being covered by city in-kind labor and materials, Veleker said.

After the June 18 council meeting, city staff reviewed the preliminary design and also met with Mayor Brian Smith to discuss the draft.

On July 2, a meeting took place with Carter Arndt, MSA’s architect on the project.

“We’re looking at two approaches,” Veleker told the council.

The first is to look at the design of the pavilion, particularly its roof, and how it can be redesigned to bring down the cost.

Materials will be considered, and the size of the pavilion will also be brought down, Veleker said.

The design presented last month was for a 4,870-square foot, open air pavilion with restrooms and a small catering kitchen. The restrooms and catering kitchen comprise 734 square feet.

The park’s old shelter, which was torn down in the spring, was 2,380 square feet. It did not have restrooms in it.

The second approach will be to redesign the pavilion.

Veleker said it will still have two wings as proposed but instead of the V-shaped approach, the pavilion will be more linear with a simpler roof structure.

In this option, the size of the pavilion will also decrease.

The building will have a central restroom and kitchen serving area with a wing off each side.

There could still be room in the budget for the series of patios proposed to lead down to Shadow Lake, Veleker said. The pavilion is proposed to face toward Shadow Lake.

The current restrooms off the access road leading to the beach house are now being eliminated, as part of the plan, he said.

In the initial plan, those restrooms were to later be remodeled.

However, with restrooms proposed in the new pavilion and already located in the beach house and in the park’s lower shelter, the decision was to made to eliminate them, he said.

Veleker also said either of the two scenarios will include new playground equipment, which is part of the Phase I plan but was not included in the preliminary design presented last month to the council.

These improvements are the first part of an overall four-phase project, with the cost of the entire project being $1.5 million.

The cost of the overall park project is to be covered by grants, private donations and through in-kind labor and materials from the city, as well as a land donation.

Community members are committed to donating $500,000 over the course of five years for the project.

In addition to the pavilion and new playground equipment, the first phase of the project includes picnic tables, waste and recycling bins, utilities, lighting and a fishing pier on Shadow Lake, across from Bowersox Park.

Mayor Brian Smith told the council the idea is to get as much of Phase I down as possible.

Redesigning the first phase of the project is expected to add 30 to 45 days to the project’s timeline.

Plans had called for the project to go out for bids on July 11 and for bids to be due on Aug. 1.

“We will come back within the next three weeks with the final estimate of the cost and then get permission to bid,” Veleker said.

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