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City approves Tourist Park renovations

Mike Plourde

By MARY WARDELL

Journal Staff Writer

MARQUETTE — The popular Tourist Park Campground on Sugar Loaf Avenue will soon have renovated bathhouses, the result of a project expansion that originally added two unisex pods to the existing facilities.

The Marquette City Commission at its regular meeting last week approved the expansion of a June 2016 proposal from U.P. Engineers and Architects to design, bid and oversee construction of two unisex pods attached to the existing bathhouses.

According to commission materials, during the design phase of that project, staff requested an estimate to remodel the bathhouses at the same time in order to possibly save money by combining the projects.

This was based on the facilities’ condition, increased maintenance due to outdated fixtures and unlevel surfaces resulting in water pooling.

UPEA’s subsequent proposal included new plumbing fixtures, new floor and wall finishes, re-leveling the floor and installation of floor drains.

Commissioners unanimously approved the $64,000 renovation project, to be paid for out of the Tourist Park Campground Fund reserve, which has sufficient funds, according to commission materials. The amount includes a 10 percent contingency.

Commissioner Mike Plourde said it’s very important when people visit the campground that they have a positive camping experience and they go home and talk about it.

“I think it’s (going to) be good for the city all around,” Plourde said.

Assistant Director of Community Services Jon Swenson said staff felt the original designs for the unisex pods needed some refining.

“The initial designs kind of felt like an afterthought,” Swenson said. “The current designs really kind of work right into the existing lines of the architecture of the buildings that are out there. They kind of feel like they’ve been there all along when you look at the pictures.”

Swenson said the idea behind the original pods was to provide a comfortable place for family members of the opposite sex to share facilities, and likewise for a camper with special needs and his or her caregiver of the opposite sex.

Mayor Dave Campana said the project is a good investment, and bathroom facilities are an important part of a campground.

In other action, the commission:

• awarded A. Jacobson Landscaping of Gwinn, low-bidder out of 10 other vendors, a contract for tree planting services on street rights-of-way and other city property for a cost not to exceed $15,000;

• scheduled a public hearing to adopt a new mobile food vending ordinance that would go into effect May 1 for Monday’s regular commission meeting as part of its one-year review after adopting the original ordinance; and

• approved a lease for locker room space at Lakeview Arena with the Hockey Mutineers of Marquette in the amount of $3,600 for four months.

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