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Reconfiguring Ashwaubenon sports plaza proposed

By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer


ASHWAUBENON – A complete makeover has been proposed for the sports plaza area between the Cornerstone Community Ice Center and the Ashwaubenon Sports Complex softball fields.

The Ashwaubenon village board agreed Tuesday, Nov. 26, to have Rettler Corporation put together bid documents so the project could be bid out as presented by Parks, Recreation and Forestry Director Rex Mehlberg.

Mehlberg informed the board of numerous problems with the current sports plaza area.

“It’s very maintenance intensive,” he said. “There’s multiple entrances, dozens and dozens of steps in every direction, planters, fountains, large areas that need to be snow-blowed. It’s a full-time job, literally, out in the plaza area in the wintertime.”

In addition, Mehlberg said the two major parking lots there are not connected.

“When there are big events there, the north parking lot typically fills up quickly, and then people don’t know how to get to the south parking lot,” he said.

When motorists are driving around trying to figure out how to get to the other parking lot, Mehlberg said they can get frustrated and end up jumping the curb to go over the sidewalk to the other parking lot, before figuring out they have to exit out of the north parking, loop around on Layden and Fernando Drive and then enter the south lot by the tennis courts.

“There’s a couple issues that are happening out there that we’ve always thought needed to be corrected,” he said.

The patio area is showing signs of wear with concrete cracking and railings rusting, along with work needing to be done with the planters.

Mehlberg said in the long term it would be “best to basically blow this thing up and build it the way it should have been done in the first place.”

He said the redesign would include a sports plaza that is easy to maintain along with a drop-off lane next to two drive-through lanes.

As proposed, a 10-foot plaza pathway to and from the building would be reconfigured to not have separate steps to shovel with the whole ramp being handicapped accessible.

“Instead of having a straight walkway that goes down that has steps, we did a series of switchbacks with no steps that’s also handicapped accessible,” Mehlberg said. “If we didn’t do it that way, we’d have to have a whole separate walkway off to the side with a lot of switchbacks, because of the height differential.”

He said the proposed new design includes both the main entrance and exit meeting handicapped accessibility requirements which can be cleaned off easily when there is snow.

Mehlberg said the design presented to the board is the best of about six or seven options put together when village staff met with Rettler.

“It was talked about there should be a drop-off lane for safety reasons, so that it wouldn’t become a bottleneck when people are dropping off,” he said.

Mehlberg said the purpose of the s-shaped design for the walkway is to meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards for the proper slope for people to walk up and down.

“It’s a second-floor exit up on top, and this (walkway) snakes down to the ground,” he said.

Sports plaza cost, funding

According to a preliminary cost estimate put together by Rettler, the plaza redevelopment has a total projected price tag of $373,948.

To pay for the project, Mehlberg said funds from the village’s Tax Incremental Financing District No. 4 could be used.

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