Colfax campground at Stuart Park takes more “baby steps” with electrical diagram and perc test
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax Village Board has authorized spending approximately $900 on an electrical diagram and another $500 for a percolation test for the proposed campground at Stuart Park.
“We’re taking baby steps,” said Jeff Prince, village trustee and chair of the parks committee, at the Colfax Village Board’s June 13 meeting.
An electrical diagram and a perc test will be needed before other costs can be determined, he said.
Stuart Park is located along state Highway 170 directly east of Tom Prince Memorial Park.
Ultimately, the campground project must be approved by the village board, but before the village board can approve the campground, the entire cost of the campground must be determined, Prince said.
The proposed campground will have 25 campsites. The original estimate was 35 campsites, but instead of 25-foot wide sites, the proposal was changed to 35-foot wide campsites, he said.
Before any grant applications can be submitted, a map of the site that includes the electrical hookups and other features must be developed, said Anne Jenson, village trustee and a member of the parks committee.
A map of the campsite also will be needed when it is time to find bids and cost estimates, she said.
The campground is in the “early stages” of planning, and certain tasks must be completed so the final cost estimates can be obtained, Prince said.
“We do not want to guess (on costs),” he said.
An individual has offered to do the electrical diagram for $800 to $900, and it will take three to four weeks to complete, Jenson said.
With complete diagrams, when the proposal is put out for bids, all of the companies will be bidding on the same set of specifications, Prince said.
There is money available in the parks fund, Jenson noted.
Perc test
Because the ball field is in the floodway, there is a holding tank at the ball field instead of a septic system.
If the proposed site for a campground in Stuart Park passes a perc test, then a conventional septic system must be installed. If the proposed site does not pass the perc test, then a holding tank will be required, said Rand Bates, director of public works.
During previous discussions of the campground, board members had talked about hauling in fill to level out Stuart Park for a campground.
Lisa Fleming, a civil engineer with Ayres Associates who attended the June 13 meeting to talk about the pay request from Skid Steer Guy LLC for the Dunn Street project, pointed out that material cannot be hauled into Stuart Park because the park is in a floodway.
Forward
The costs for an electrical diagram and a perc test are necessary to move the campground project forward, Jenson said.
The village has spent money before “where it never went anywhere,” she said.
Money was spent on signs and a concept design for the East View residential development, and now there will be no development beyond the first few lots purchased by the village, Jenson said.
The village could not take the next step to continue planning the housing development because the land was sold to someone else, she said.
A spreading garden was planned for Evergreen Cemetery, but no one wants to make a decision on a fence or other aspects of the project, Jenson said.
The campground would be expected to bring in $40,000 in revenue each year for the village, Prince said.
But what would be the cost to the village to run the campground? asked Jody Albricht, village president.
The cost to run the campground has not yet been determined, Prince said.
The electrical diagram and the perc test are needed to be able to get to the next step of determining the cost of developing the campground, Jenson said.
Colfax is landlocked and there is no other way to bring revenue into the village, she said.
The campground would be a benefit to certain businesses in the village, Jenson said.
Everyone on the village board is concerned about costs, “but we need to find out the costs,” she said.
“We need to take a baby step to get the final cost,” Prince said.
Bates and Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, pointed out that the village had recently received a check from an unexpected source for $1,700 for parks.
Could the perc test be done at a later date, asked Jen Rud, village trustee.
Whether the site percs is necessary to know. If the site passes a perc test, then a septic system can be designed. If it does not pass a perc test, then a holding tank will be needed, Bates said.
A conventional system or a holding tank will be needed for the dump station for the campers, he said.
The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved spending up to $1,000 for the electrical diagram and $500 for the perc test with the money coming from the parks fund.
