Posted on August 6, 2018
City leaders in Stevens Point are considering a plan to open up a once-popular waterway through a process called dredging.
The city’s Board of Park Commissioners discussed the topic during Wednesday’s meeting, giving input to engineers working on the proposal. Parks, Recreation, and Forestry director Tom Schrader says the process involves cleaning up the river bottom in the area with heavy equipment. “There would be a large backhoe that would go in and pull the sediment from the ground. A permit from the DNR would tell them how much they can take.”
Schrader says right now they’d like to get public input on how deep to dredge in the area. “Some people might like it deeper, some may not. That’s what they really want to get input from people on, would they like to see the beach back the way it was years ago.”
During the meeting some reminisced about swimming and diving at the site when they were growing up. Some told stories of a diving board that was once placed at the top of a retaining wall that helped make the beach popular option for kids and teens in the summer.
No action was taken as a result of Wednesday’s meeting, with the Commissioners giving the engineers more questions to answer before moving the project forward such as how to handle the removal of the sand and how deep to sledge.
Some also questions the method for removing the sand since roads in the area are not built to handle heavy loads.
The Commission also provided updates on improvements to two athletic facilities in Stevens Point including the Zenoff Park turf project, which Schrader says could hit a snag because of the current construction market. “It’s been a tough year for bidding. The contractors, like most businesses now, they are short for help.” He says that means if the bids come back significantly over budget, then the project will not move forward this fall and will instead be completed in the fall of 2019.
Additionally, upgrades to the Willet Ice Arena are on track to begin by December 18th. Schrader says the design phase is currently underway, and bids will be opens by November 27th. The bulk of that project involves improvements to the rinks ice system which will improve efficiency.
The most noticeable improvements will be the new dasher boards and glass around the rink, which were bought used when the arena first opened in the 1980’s and have not been improved since.
Source: WSAU
