Pioneer Park to get lots of improvements
MOORESVILLE — The Mooresville Park Board approved an agency reimbursement agreement during its Nov. 13 meeting between it and the Mooresville Redevelopment Commission as part of the town park department’s improvement plan.
The RDC has agreed to pay up to $3.15 million for hard costs related to the park department’s project.
The agreement was approved by the RDC at its Nov. 2 meeting.
Mooresville Parks Superintendent Phil Cornelius gave a brief explanation of the reimbursement process to the board.
“Say it’s the pickleball courts, we will then come to the RDC going, ‘Hey, we are ready to open for receiving of bids of the pickleball courts,’” Cornelius said. “Basically, it is a formality, going, ‘Great, excited for it.’ We will then release the bids. Once we get it and determine the exact bid that we want — so it’s a final dollar amount — we will go to the RDC going, ‘We have awarded the bid to x company for x dollars, we’d like the reimbursement for that.’ We’ll work with the clerk-treasurer and the RDC to move the money to where it needs to go.”
The agreement was approved by the board unanimously, 6-0 with member Brent Callahan absent from the meeting.
Site master plan
The board also decided to update its agreement with Lehman & Lehman to move from the concept design for the project to a systematic design.
Cornelius told the board this would allow the parks to move into the first stage of the building phase of the improvement project.
He read an email from Lehman & Lehman about the agreement update.
“Systematic design is going to allow us to study the entire proposed master plan and all phases comprehensively,” Cornelius read.
This will also allow for surveying and soil boring.
“At the end of the systematic design, we will have the preliminary engineering design that will help determine the final construction,” Cornelius added.
Park board president Matt Saner asked for a timeline of the project.
According to Cornelius, the addendum for the current contract with Lehman & Lehman would last through early spring 2024, noting that ground could be broken either during the phase or at the end.
The first step is building a new maintenance facility for the parks.
“If someone said, ‘Hey, when can I play pickleball at Pioneer Park?’” Saner asked. “We could say approximately when?”
“The safest answer is 2025,” Cornelius responded.
He anticipates the total project completion to take up to two years.
The agreement with Lehman & Lehman will cost $106,000,
The money will be paid out of the park’s capital non-reverting fund.
Cornelius was asked if there would be enough money in the capital non-reverting fund to cover the cost of the Lehman & Lehman agreement and pay for the construction of the new maintenance facility.
According to Cornelius, the fund has enough money to cover both expenses.
The agreement was approved by the board, 6-0.
In other business
- The board approved an agreement with DG Graphics to install a new entrance sign at Pioneer Park.
- It approved moving forward on the park’s 2025-2029 strategic master plan.
~ By Lance Gideon | Reporter | Published November 22, 2023 in The Morgan County Correspondent
