Replacing the field house and building a new Star Park restroom building became contentious points of discussion at last Tuesday’s Ferndale City Council meeting.
Over $40,000 was set aside several months ago for remodeling of the field house in the playfields outside Pioneer Park. The field house had fallen into disrepair in the past years and options for remodeling were limited by Civil Corps of Engineers restrictions due to its presence on the flood plain. But recently, public works staff proposed replacing the building with a state-approved prefabricated structure equipped with stainless steel fixtures. Such a building is approved for use on a flood plain due to its ability to stand up to flooding as well as ease of cleaning afterwards.
At last week’s council committee meetings, the proposal to build another restroom building about 100 yards away closer to Star Park (see map below) would be both technically and financially feasible if using one of the state-approved structures as was being proposed for the field house location. City staff assured councilmembers that money put in reserves last year would be adequate to cover the cost.
Council first dealt with the field house by itself and voted to approve spending money to demolish the building but voting on installing its replacement was not done. Instead, discussion included the proposal a restroom building near Star Park. This was discussed as either being done in addition to or as an alternative to the field house replacement building.
Click for more information
Click for more informationCouncilmember Cathy Watson voiced concern over doing both and thought a location closer to Pioneer Park and Star Park was more attractive. But councilmember Rebecca Xczar said she felt both were needed, citing users of the BMX park in addition to the play fields on the west side of the area.
A motion to approve constructing both buildings was not successful with most councilmembers citing the lack of cost information for bringing electrical, water and sewer service to restrooms near Pioneer Park and Star Park. Council then voted to approve just doing the engineering design work to develop a cost estimate for the construction of those proposed restrooms.
It is expected that once equipped with the cost estimates, council will in the near future decide whether to build one or both of the restroom buildings. In the meantime, an ADA-compliant portable bathroom has been donated by Sanitary Service Company and located at Star Park.
[easy2map id=84]