By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
Over the 10 days or so, construction began on Richardson Stadium in Gorin Park and, as the bulk of the demolition work concluded at American Legion Park to make way for a major overhaul, the city gained approval of the final development plan for that latter location, which allows construction to begin once a company is awarded the project.
Bids for that work are to be opened Thursday afternoon in Council Chambers at Glasgow City Hall. The deadline for receipt is 2 p.m. that day.
Eddie Furlong, director of the Glasgow Parks and Recreation Department, said at a recent meeting of the Glasgow Common Council Parks and Recreation Committee that he had met with two contractors who visited the site, “so hopefully we get some good bids on that.”
He said the demolition was ahead of schedule, with no issues.
“Everything has went according to plan or better. There’s been a few small changes of stuff that’s not being demoed now, that’ll be demoed after, just because it’s going to make the process go a little bit quicker,” he said, answering a question from Councilman Terry Bunnell. “For instance, they were supposed to take out more asphalt than they have, but we’re going to leave it in there to serve as staging areas for the construction part of it, and then they’ll demo that out after the construction’s done, so it’ll save us money up front and speed the process up, too.”
Bunnell asked about the prebid meeting, and Furlong said it had been about two weeks earlier.
Jim McGowan, superintendent of the Glasgow Department of Public Works, who was also present at that meeting, said six or seven people attended, representing three companies.
A question arose about whether there was a deadline for the work to be done by next summer. The bid advertisement states that the successful bidder shall begin the work on receipt of the Notice to Proceed and shall complete the work within 330 calendar days.
“Everything seems to be rolling ahead of schedule. I talked with Pat (Hoagland) today, and he just sent me some stuff that we, as a city, can start paying for some of our permits and whatnot to get the process rolling even quicker, so we’re going to do that this week as well,” Furlong said at the meeting last week.
Hoagland is vice president of Brandstetter Carroll, the firm that developed the design for the park.
This rendering of the design by Brandstetter Carroll for an updated American Legion Park was completed in March. Bids for the construction work are to be opened later this week, and the final development plan was approved by the Joint City-County Planning Commission of Barren County on Monday evening.
Bunnell asked when they anticipated choosing a bidder, and Furlong said he was going to be gone for a couple of days around the time the bids are to be opened and then McGowan was going to be out some after that, but once they’re both back, they’ll sit down and go through them together.
“I just hope that we get several and they’re competitive,” Furlong said.
He also reviewed that it was going to be less costly and more efficient timewise to go ahead and close the pool for the duration of the project, and Councilwoman Chasity Lowery added that it would also be safer, with heavy equipment going in and out, to not have people at the pool.
This construction phase of the project includes the aquatic center, basketball courts, walking trail and pickleball courts. It does not include the shelter/bathroom/playground at top of the hill, in the vicinity of the current shelter and play area, or thr dog park, outdoor fitness and shelter at the front of the park, near the pickleball courts, Furlong told Glasgow News 1.
On Monday, the final development plan for the upgrades to the approximately 12-acre park at 805 Happy Valley Road was among the items before the Joint City-County Planning Commission of Barren County for its consideration.
Kevin Myatt, planning director for the commission, said the preliminary development plan was approved May 20, and the demolition started after that. He listed some of the elements included in the plan – aquatic center, basketball courts, pickleball courts, dog park, outdoor fitness center, etc. – and summarized staff’s findings with regard to items such as zoning (General Business), utilities available and plans for those; stormwater drainage plans, signage and landscaping.
It was the staff’s recommendation that the commission approve the plan, subject to adequate soil erosion and sedimentation control measures’ being implemented. After just a couple of brief questions about gating and such, with nine of the commission members present, the vote was unanimous in favor of the plan as presented.
Stadium work
Moving on to the discussion of Richardson Stadium, Furlong passed around black-and-white images of the design for the future facility now constructed there, cautioning, though, “it’s not 100 percent how it’s going to look.”
For example, the shade structures over the bleachers are more than likely going to be different than shown.
Furlong said that, as of at this point, this phase of construction was going to include the bleachers and fencing and the building that houses concessions, the press box, etc., but no covering for the bleachers.
Bunnell asked about the seating capacity, and Furlong and McGowan each said they thought it was 212, and Bunnell asked how that compares with the prior stadium facility, which was destroyed by fire almost two years ago.
“It’s less, quite a bit less, but there’s a couple of reasons why,” Furlong said.
Current standards call for wider seat spacing, he and McGowan said in different ways.
Furlong said they spoke with Sam Royse, the now-retired Glasgow High School baseball coach, while he was still coach, and he had looked at attendance statistics and said that, based on those average numbers, they should be able to comfortably seat fans.
Lowery said the current coach has also been consulted, and Furlong said that other than perhaps the game with rival Barren County High School or a tournament, there should be enough seating for all, but there’s more room around the outfield fence and bleacher area for people to stand.
Bunnell asked whether there were any improvements coming to other parts of the site, and Furlong said that all the new work is essentially between the dugouts.
“As of right now, we’re just trying to replace what was lost …,” he said. “It’ll be ready before next season, without a doubt, maybe this fall.”
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