Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Construction workers with Ruotsala Construction, LLC, from left, Anthony Niemi, Jason Turula and Anders Pietila, build forms for concrete on Tuesday at the site of the Downtown City Square in Ironwood. Bordered by Aurora and Lowell streets and McLeod Avenue, the $1.47 million project funded almost entirely with grant dollars from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation will be an all-season space with an amphitheater, splash pad, winter ice rink, outdoor fireplace, benches and a trailhead. Work is expected to be completed this fall.
By TOM LAVENTURE
Ironwood - The Ironwood Parks and Recreation Committee heard updates on several projects Monday during a Zoom webinar meeting.
The committee held its annual election of chair and vice chair.
Sam Davey was the sole nomination for the election of chair. He was reelected to the chair role 7-0.
Tom Kangas was the sole nominee for vice chair. Kangas was elected 7-0 to replace Linda Jindrich as vice chair.
In his update on the Downtown City Square Project, Tom Bergman, director of community development for the city of Ironwood, said the work is still on schedule with a few exceptions. There are a few individual items that were pushed until after September but they are not things that would hold up completion of the project, he said.
Construction crews are currently building forms and pouring concrete walls.
"I like seeing all the people working on that project - the contractors and all the employees working on a million dollar project," Kangas said. "It's good for the city."
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund Grant Application for Norrie Park renovation and water trail project received support via a resolution from the Ironwood City Commission at its previous meeting, Bergman said. The resolution and meeting minutes approving the application were sent to the DNR and the city is waiting for possible supplemental suggestions to help the application score higher.
If approved, the project would most likely start in summer 2022, he said.
In his update on the comprehensive park and recreation plan implementation status of priority action items, Bergman said the Southern Beltline Trail acquisition project received notification from the DNR on Monday that the funding is in place for Phase 2.
"That is good news and we will start working through the project agreement process for that," Bergman said. "With Phase 1 we sent all the title information to the DNR and when that is complete the environmental phase work will begin."
Scott Erickson, city manager, is completing the initial phase work for the mountain bike trail development project for Miners Memorial Heritage Park, Bergman said. This work will require city commission approval before going out for bids on that project.
The DNR will take about a month to review the information before the project can go out for bid, he said. The project will hopefully start and be completed in summer 2021.
The project will include a new trailhead at Bonnie Street by the city dog park, he said. That will include the largest parking lot to be installed in the project.
"There will be some upgrades to the trailhead at Red Devil Field; some upgrades to the trailhead at Hiawatha, and also a new trailhead to the Iron Belle next to AmericInn, where the city owns some access there," Bergman said.
The trail will also serve as the connector trail to Miners Memorial Heritage Park, he said. There will eventually be a trailhead near the Downtown City Square but that will be as part of another project.
In the strategy discussion regarding the Miners Memorial Heritage Park Master Plan. Kangas said the Curry neighborhood trail, Aurora A, and the path G area all have new signage. There might eventually be signage for the Beltline trail, when it is completed, will likely be near the G shack.
"The park is slowly progressing and moving forward, which is a good thing," Davey said.
Discussion on the proposed playground north of U.S. 2 was brief. Based on the current workload Bergman said that the timeline may shift to next year.
In the open comments portion of the meeting, Kangas brought attention to the motorized trail crossing at Frederick and Hemlock streets where motorized vehicles cross the Iron Belle Trail Trail. He said the vehicles are breaking apart the black top which has created a lift on either side.
Davey suggested that the crossing should be diverted to the crossing at the Historic Depot Park.
"It's steep on both sides coming up," Davey said. "Just for safety reasons it could be moved."
Bergman said he is aware of the problem and that repairs to the Frederick and Hemlock crossing are an annual event. He would discuss the option to move the crossing with Scott Erickson.
The next regular meeting of the parks and recreation committee would be Monday, Sept. 7, which is Labor Day. The meeting date was changed to Thursday, Sept. 17.
Other members present at the meeting included Paul Kostelnik, Linda Jindrich, Randy Kirchhoff, Mary Grace Loreti, Jake Ring, Kim Corcoran, and Tim Erickson, community development specialist.
