Menu
Repairs at Gunn Park nearing completion
The finish line is in sight with repairs to Shelter House No. 1 at Gunn Park near the wrap-up point.
Rogers & Sons Concrete has been working since early March to repair Shelter House No. 1 after Professional Engineering Consultants, P.A. advised the city to close the local landmark in February 2010 because the structure was failing. Parts of the park have been closed to the public due to this and other projects.
Owner Ron Rogers said the basement level is completed and the retaining wall has been completed. On Wednesday, they will begin pouring the support piers that will hold up the top-level floor.
Next for the project is pouring the top-level floor, which Rogers said will occur in about two weeks, and construction of a brick wall on the top level.
He said the firm is ahead of schedule and hopes to have the shelter open to the public in about a month.
Rogers & Sons contracted with the city to complete the repairs with a bid of $131,650, which came in under the engineer's estimate of $146,465.
Professional Engineering Consultants P.A. submitted a letter to the city of Fort Scott in early 2010 reporting findings of structural cracking, along with horizontal and vertical displacement in the 100-year-old shelter house. The city decided in February 2010 to close the shelter house to the public, along with several locations on the first floor which were showing damage that could have led to a collapse.
Other projects that have caused the west half of the park to close are also nearing completion. According to Fort Scott Director of Public Works Eric Bailey, repairs to the spillway on the park's second lake could be completed by the end of the April, depending on weather.
In October 2009, the city found a large sinkhole near the spillway. Bailey said they later found more which were caused by water tunneling under the ground. Double S Dirtworks Inc., of Liberal Mo., has been working since the end of January to install a drain line and a new concrete catch box in the lake. Bailey added a grassy area was also constructed as an emergency spillway.
The contractor will begin concrete work Wednesday where the road near the Marmaton River was torn up during the construction, Bailey said. The concrete work and reseeding of grass in the area is all that is left on the project. Bailey said opening the area to the public by the end of the month would be a "realistic goal." Total project cost is $86,630 with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) paying 75 percent, the Kansas Department of Emergency Management paying 10 percent, and the city paying 15 percent, or about $13,000.