Projects approved for Miners park

By TOM LAVENTURE

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Ironwood — The Ironwood City Commission approved two projects Monday that are meant to help Miners Memorial Heritage Park continue to grow and expand. 

The commission approved a $264,364 bid from Marquettebased Flowtrack Mountain Bike Trails, LLC, to complete the mountain bike trail construction and qayfinding signs project at Miners Park. The project includes construction of a pump and hand cycle tracks; cross country and mountain bike trails; a 3-foot boardwalk trail; trail signs and posts. 

The approval is contingent upon review from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund. Flow Track was the low bid of four that included other bids ranging from $323,972 to $691,850. 

“This was a very good price in a very competitive bidding process,” said Scott Erickson, city manager. “This company has experience with performing this kind of specialty work.” 

The Trust Fund project is in two parts. One project is to develop the mountain bike trails and a separate project and bidding process will focus on the parking lot and connector trails. 

The project could be completed over one or two construction seasons, Erickson said. There is a lot of construction and it will either start this year and be completed in 2022, or the entire project could take place next year, he said.

The project will add 10 miles of mountain bike trail within Miners Park. The second phase of the project will add two parking lots and a connector trail from the Iron Belle Trail.

The project will be funded through the DNR Trust Fund with $106,000 in matching fund support from the Ironwood Tourism Council and the SISU Dirt Crew. The city will provide $14,000 in in-kind support. 

The park currently hosts miles of hiking, skiing and snowshoeing trails that are wider and groomed, Erickson said in a previous interview. The mountain bike trails are single track and narrower.

Phase 2 of the project will be to build a parking lot adjacent to the municipal dog park on Bonnie Road and Ayer Street. City public works crews already constructed the entrance and installed a culvert last fall in preparation for the parking lot this summer. 

Miners Park has an existing lot adjacent to the city baseball field. That will remain in place. A smaller parking area will also be built near the AmericInn Ironwood hotel on U.S. 2, with access to the Iron Belle Trail, and to a new connection trail to access Miners Park.

The city commission also approved a request from the Friends of the Miners Memorial Heritage Park to construct a storage garage along the compost site road within the park. The approval will allow the Friends to place a donated garage on one of three tentative sites. 

“The FMMHP group has been doing an excellent job maintaining the park in summer and winter and have outgrown their storage facility,” Erickson said. 

The Friends have a donated garage and are looking at various locations and need conditional approval so that when it is determined which site is best they can go ahead and place without revisiting the commission, he said. 

The first location is near the compost road gates at Ayer Street. The second location is south of the city dog park near the location where the mountain bike trail will be developed. The third is along the south side of Penokee Road. 

Commissioner Rick Semo, a member of the FMMHP, said the locations need to be approved so that the pieces are in places as the project moves forward. The group is meeting with Xcel Energy, Inc. to consult on the best location as far as with access to electrical power.

The Friends have increased its inventory of groomers and other equipment substantially over the past two years, Semo said. The garage is essential for proper storage and maintenance of major investments and will help the organization grow to meet the demands of the park as it continues to expand.

“We are really excited about the project and we will have the final site picked by the end of the month,” Semo said. “The building will have to be moved by the end of June.”

The Friends will post news regarding fundraising events to help pay for the project in the near future, Semo said.