BAXTER - With the start to summer fast approaching, Baxter is looking at what repairs the city needs at its parks and potential changes in the future.
The city council recently approved spending for needed repairs this year as recommended by the Parks and Trails Commission. At the popular and heavily used Oscar Kristofferson Park, the city agreed to make the minimal pavilion repairs this year to make the structure safe and to look at possibly replacing the pavilion in 2016.
The Oscar Kristofferson Park pavilion was built in 1981 with a life expectancy of 30 years. Two years later an addition doubled the pavilion's size. The city reported an analysis of the structure found it to be in fair condition with parts of it in poor condition.
During the next 10 years, staff reported costs to replace wooden posts for minimum repairs are estimated to total $61,157. To replace the pavilion is estimated to be $182,000 and to replace it with a kitchen may cost $209,300. The cost estimates used the same kitchen design and building materials as found in the Whipple Beach pavilion project from 2014.
The smaller picnic pavilion at Oscar Kristofferson Park was built in the 1980s with donated materials and is in fair shape, staff reported. The city reported the pavilion doesn't meet Minnesota building code requirements. The parks commission recommended looking at possible replacement of the entire structure in the future, but staff reported there were no immediate repairs needed this year. One question before the city council recently was whether two pavilions were needed or if a design change with a kitchen in the middle may serve the needs of users of the park in the future.
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RENEE RICHARDSON, associate editor, may be reached at 855-5852 or renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com . Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Dispatchbizbuzz .
