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VOL. 132 ISSUE 49 PARK RIVER, NORTH DAKOTA
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2015
By Allison Olimb
of The Press
PARK RIVER, N.D. --
Construction has begun on the
addition and renovations to
Park River Area Schools. This
fall, students and faculty have
some big changes to look for-
ward to.
The project, which was vot-
ed on by the district last No-
vember easily cleared the polls
with 74 percent voter approval.
Since that time the PRA school
board has been working hard to
maintain the vision that they
presented to the district all
those months ago.
One of the biggest chal-
lenges has been the budget.
PRA Superintendent Kirk
Ham said that when they
opened the biding process on
April 23, the bids came in
$3.1 million over the amount
that the vote bonded for.
One of the biggest expen-
ditures was the decision to
add another floor, o,the
mentary school gym when
turning it into usable classroom
space.
"The board had to decide
what to do next," Ham said.
"The options were: Do we re-
bid it? Do we change the proj-
ect and delay a year? Or do we
find a way to make it work?"
They discussed the options
and the board decided that re-
bids would have no guarantee
and only delay progress.
"I give the board a lot of
credit," he said. "We talked a
lot about maintaining that vi-
sion and keeping the scope of
the project of what we told
people it was going to be."
One of the concerns voiced
by the public back before the
vote was that this could hap-
pen, as it did in the 2000
build, and the end result could
suffer. In 2000, Ham said,
"the scope of the project got
cut." So, the board chose not
to do that.
PRA Project
Cont page 5
Photos: Larry Bid
.q0ove: As students were get
ready to pack up their bags one
last time for the summer, the
school was doing the same to
make way for construction on
the new addition and remodel
to the elementary classrooms.
Bottom Left: Karson Blake and
other students carry out chairs
from the elementary class-
rooms. Boltom Right: Park Riv-
er custodian Joel Dub hauls a
book shelf out ofthe ele
school to a waiting storage
container.
:: =: :
1
By Allison Olimb
of The Press
PARK RIVER, N.D. -- Park River
Parks and Recreation unveiled the concep-
tual drawings for a sports complex and
event center two years ago. Now, they have
gone back to the drawing board.
On Wednesday, May 27, a community
presentation was held at the Park River
American Legion to reveal the new con-
ceptual drawings that have been developed
with help from additional community in-
put. The new concept of a "community
center" with the vision expanded beyond
the initial hockey arena design and a re-
imagined layout for the lot green space and
baseball diamonds were presented.
Park River Parks has been working in
cooperation with Park River Hockey, Park
River Figure Skating, Park River Baseball,
Park River Centennial Trees, Park River
Gymnastics, and the City of Park River
as well as area businesses and business
members to develop a plan for the city-
owned lots located on the east end of town
south of North Star Coop.
The development plan for the so-called
Green Acres Subdivision allows for the
development of commercial businesses
along Highway 17 at the north end of the
development, industrial development at the
south end of the allotted space, with the
community complex in-between.
All of the work up until this point has
been in the planning stages and grant ap-
plication phase. Construction is slated to
begin this summer with the development of
an RV park. The park is being built with the
assistance of a $240,000 grant from the mittee to develop the needs of the commu-
ND Outdoor Heritage Fund. Park Board nity. Members include: Jon Markusen, Jay
President Kyle Halvorson said that the de- Thompson, Steve Rehovsky, Dan Stenvold,
velopment of the RV park would help gen- Nic Beneda, Corri Bell, Bruce Heggen,
erate revenue for Parks and Rec and allow Louise Dryburgh, Diana Hahn, Kirk Ham,
the future development of the project to Veto Houser, and Kyle Halvorson.
continue. Location options were discussed near
This concept started 30 years ago as a Victory Free Lutheran Church, near the
dream for a new hockey facility and ex- school, around the existing Walsh County
panded about five years ago when the Fair building, at the old elementary loca-
needs for a growing baseball program were tion, and near the Park River American
becoming more obvious. Halvorson added Legion building, but Advisory Committee
that the 50-year-old swimming pool also member Jon Markusen who presented on
came under observation recently and "cen- the concept, said, "We came back to this lo-
tralizing these components made sense." cation as the one to focus on."
The board started by hiring a full-time The original conceptwas for three Cal
director, Corri Bell, to manage the Various Ripken diamonds and one legion diamond
components that make up parks program- The current plan calls for two Cal Rip-
ming; as well as creating an advisory com- ken sized baseball diamonds, one Babe
Ruth diamond and one Legion diamond.
One aspect of the green space that has
been developed in great detail is the ar-
boretum. Joel Hylden has been designing
the landscaping possibilities to highlight a
variety of native species. He said that the
design features 170 different kinds of trees,
125 different kinds of bushes and 700 dif-
ferent kinds of flowers.
The original design for the event center
was a hockey arena to house the skating
and hockey programs, a walking track, and
a gym. The new concept adds a wellness
center component with space for fitness
machines and classes, and a racquetball
court. The center is designed to be utilized
Complex
Cont page 6
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See page 2
A recap of state
go acaon
See page 8
"The first step toward getting
somewhere to dec de that
you are not going to stay where
you are."
Unknown
Four
complem
Piano
Guild at itions
See page 3
Band of Brothers: Baseball
See page 9
