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City of Decatur to renovate skate park at McKoy Park

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City of Decatur to renovate skate park at McKoy Park

Skate park at McKoy Park in the city of Decatur on August 3, 2022. Photo by Dean Hesse.
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Decatur, GA — Parks and recreation was the topic of the night during the Decatur City Commission’s Aug. 1 regular meeting. The commission approved a project budget of $200,000 for renovations to the skate park at McKoy Park.

The city commission also awarded a contract to American Ramp Company in the amount of $190,000 to complete the renovations. The firm and equipment are part of a Sourcewell Cooperative purchasing contract for parks and recreation equipment, said Sara Holmes, Active Living assistant director.  Sourcewell is similar to the state contract purchasing plan.

“The most exciting part is the funding for this project was graciously donated by an anonymous donator for $200,000,” Holmes said.

The skate park was built in December 2003 with Woodward equipment. Woodward has gone out of business and replacement parts and equipment are not available.

“…This is a widely known and highly used skate park by our community members, so our budget should allow for the replacement of all 13 equipment pieces in the park,” Holmes said. “American Ramp plans to start the renovations with a virtual civic engagement workshop with residents and skaters to develop a community-based plan.”

She added that the same surface will still be used and there are some concrete benches at the park that will likely stay where they are.

Once the plan is finished, American Ramp Company will install the new equipment in the park, and the project is expected to take about six months. There will be a design kickoff virtual meeting, a community engagement webinar and a site review webinar. Dates for the virtual meetings have not been determined yet.

In other business:

– The city commission approved a change order to the contract with CGS Waterproofing for the replacement of the concrete floor slab in the dairy barn at Legacy Park. After cleaning and preparing the existing floor to install a two-inch topping, the contractor found there is no concrete in most areas of the building.

Stevens and Wilkinson, the architect of the project, recommended installing a four-inch concrete slab.

The cost of the proposed change order is $18,832.50 for the additional concrete work. Upon approval, the project budget would increase to $175,000 from $160,000. The contract amount would also increase from $138,500 to $157,332.50, said Felix Floyd, facilities maintenance superintendent.

City Manager Andrea Arnold said that change order recommendations are made when the city staff is satisfied with the reasoning for the request, especially when it comes to construction involving old buildings.

“This building would be considered exceptionally old and there are conditions that are difficult to identify at the outset of the bidding process,” Arnold said. “We try to build that into the budget, but in this case, this was an unforeseen issue.”

– The city commission also established two project budgets and awarded contracts for improvements to the gym at the Oakhurst Recreation Center.

The board established a project budget of $30,000 and awarded a contract for $29,302.85 to BSN Sports for gym equipment. The equipment provided in the proposal includes three moveable bleachers, two players benches, a basketball scoreboard and controller, and four wall pads to be placed behind the basketball goals, Holmes said.

“Currently, the only equipment in the gym is basketball goals and a broken scoreboard,” Holmes said. “The recommended equipment is needed to improve safety and provide basic amenities for our open gym, exercise classes, and our athletic programs.”

The board additionally created a project budget of $32,000 and awarded a contract for $30,853 to Solutionz, Inc. to install sound absorption panels in the Oakhurst Recreation Center gym.

“The gym was built with materials that reflect the sound, and it’s really uncomfortably loud,” Holmes said. “It’s very similar to how the Legacy Park gym was before we installed the sound panels there. The panels would help with this noise and provide a more pleasant environment for our exercise classes, our open gym activities and our athletic programs.”

Funds from the remaining issuance of the Urban Redevelopment Agency 2020 bonds will be used for both projects.

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