City Misses Promised Deadline for Proposed Skate Park

IRONWOOD, MI - Wednesday, September 17, 2008 - After over ten years of unkept promises, it appears that progress is being made on the construction of Ironwood's skatepark. Concrete reinforcing mesh was recently delivered to the site.

City Manager Scott Erickson assured area skateboard enthusiasts that they will have a skate park this summer. Summer ends Monday, and construction has not yet begun.

Earlier this spring, a group of concerned citizens lobbied the City to locate the skate park in the Civic Center. The group gave several reasons why the park should be located at the Center. Their reasons include:

  1. Supervision - The Civic Center is supervised. This insures the safety of the skaters as well as protecting the park assets.
  2. Availability - The Civic Center could realistically have had a skate park up and running by the first of May.
  3. More Opportunity to Skate - The indoor facility will open in the spring before it is suitable to open an outdoor park, and close later in the fall than weather would allow an outdoor park to be used.  Rain and excessive heat make outdoor skating less desirable. The Civic Center will not be affected by the weather.
  4. Lighting - The outdoor park will not provide lighting. Lighting allows skaters to use the park later in the evening.
  5. Disturbances - The outdoor park has neighbors nearby. The Civic Center is enclosed and isolated from any residential properties. Noise is not a problem at the Civic Center.
  6. Safety - The Suffolk Street park poses several safety concerns besides the lack of supervision. There is a deep cavern on one side of the park (an old mine shaft) and a busy street leading up to the softball field on the other side.
  7. Restrooms - The Civic Center has both men's and ladies restrooms.
  8. Seating - The Civic Center has ample seating to host competitive events. There is also plenty of places for parents to sit while their children skateboard.
  9. Snacks and Beverages - Skaters could grab a quick snack any time they wish at the Center.
  10. Opportunities to Raise Revenues for the Skate Club - The Center allows the Skateboard Club to better finance itself to improve the park, as well as contributing towards keeping the Civic Center open. Skateboard rental could have been offered at the Center. It is possible to eventually put a Skate Shop at the Center as well. Proceeds could help both the Center and the Club.
  11. Parking - The Center has ample parking.
  12. Maintenance - The Civic Center has staff to maintain the park. The Suffolk Street park will have to be maintained by taxpayer money.
  13. Game Room - The Center has video games that can be played by patrons.
  14. Music - The Civic Center has a jukebox.
  15. Low Admission Fee - A reasonable admission fee insures improvements to the park and helps maintain the Center. Both the Club and the Center could benefit from a reasonable admission charge.
  16. Summoning Help In an Emergency - Assume a kid gets hurt at the Suffolk Street park. Where does he summon help? Since the Center is supervised, the Center would assure that help was immediately dispatched.
  17. Accountability - The Center provides a place for parents to call to get in touch with their kid.
  18. Other Activities - The Civic Center may be offering other activities such as in-line hockey, basketball, and RC racing.
  19. Organized Competition - Being an indoor park, competition would be easily organized.
  20. Out-of-Town Users - Visitors to the area and people traveling just to use the park will help pay for the facility.

Over half of the skateboarders that regularly attended the skate park meetings preferred the Civic Center location. Supervision was a big factor in their support. At the time, the Center had a new full-time manager, Jimmy Sain, who would have watched over the park. Several of the younger skaters preferred the idea of a supervised park. Most  of the skateboard club members didn't object to a small admission fee considering the conveniences that are already in place at the Center -- restrooms, a snack counter, beverages, seating, lighting, music, and a telephone number parents can call if they need to contact their kids.

Moyle Construction of Houghton, the general contractor for Ironwood  Township's new Wal-Mart, previously agreed to pour the 50'x100' concrete slab. In exchange, the City of Ironwood agreed to allow the contractor to the dump thousands of yards of stumpage and other construction debris from the Wal-Mart project on City-owned land on Ayer Street.

According to the agreement with Moyle, "As a goodwill donation to the City, we will commit to providing and installing a 5,000 square foot , 4 inch thick, 3,000 PSI concrete slab.  Local contractor, Ruotsala Concrete of Ironwood, has agreed to set it up and provide the expert installers to place the concrete at no charge."

The agreement says, "We will also provide the city with a crushed rock product of 3/4" or less for the sub base. This sub base will be picked up, transported, and placed by City DPW crews. Moyle Construction will be providing roughly 200 tons of aggregate."

According to the Moyle agreement, there are other issues that the City will need to address regarding the park, before a park on Suffolk can be a reality. They are:

  1. This will be a hard surface slab only and will have no thickened slab or structural capabilities for loads other than people using it to skateboard.
  2. The City will have to grade the site and remove the top soil, compact the sub grade, haul, place and compact the aggregate base.
  3. The City will back-fill the perimeter edges after the concrete forms are removed.
  4. After the concrete is placed and finished, the City will set up and operate water sprinklers for curing.
  5. The City will have to purchase mesh, sealer, and a saw cut blade for about $1,500.
  6. The City can place the mesh after the forms are in place.
  7. The City may want to consider installing Styrofoam underneath the 4" slab to help prevent frost heaving. This would run about $3,125.00.
  8. The City should consider filling the saw-cut joints with sealant to give a smoother ride and prevent water from getting into the joints and freezing.
  9. The City must draft a letter holding Moyle Construction harmless from future claims at this location.

When the idea of locating the park at the Civic Center was originally mentioned, City Manager Scott Erickson pointed out that the City would lose out on the concrete slab Moyle promised because the agreement was for "like kind only" -- Moyle could not be asked for the cash value instead.