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Sharewood Forest playground may be replaced |
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Wednesday, 26 March 2008 |
Cliff Buchan
News Editor
Sharewood Forest Community Playground, a facility built from the minds and dreams of children in Forest Lake, could soon be no more.
The ISD 831 School tonight (Thursday) is expected to review a proposal to remove the 17-year-old playground on SW 4th St. between Forest View and Forest Lake elementary schools and replace it with a new facility donated in part by Xccent Recreation, Osceola, WI.
The school board, during a work session review on Monday, reacted favorably to a company presentation.
Xccent, which plans to move its Osceola facility to Wyoming late in 2009, approached the district as part of a community partnership. The facility would be a testing grounds of sorts for the company and used for promotional purposes with permission.
The plan that goes to the school board tonight calls for Sharewood Forest to be razed at the end of this school year. Xccent crews would build a new state-of-the-art facility in July with the playground completed in August.
Under the proposal, the school district would be required to remove Sharewood Forest and prepare the site with an approved ground cover and pay for any concrete.
Xccent would also charge the district $20,000 for equipment which has an estimated retail value of $65,000. The company would also cover the estimated cost of $10,000 for installation.
“It’s starting to get run down,” Superintendent Lynn Steenblock said of Sharewood Forest. He said the time may be right to “retire it.”
Xccent officials Dan Reisetter and Terry Pratt made the presentation on Monday and requested a school board decision within two to three weeks. The board agreed to move the item to tonight’s board agenda for action.
Sharewood history
Sharewood Forest Community Playground was built in 1991 after more than a year of planning and fund-raising that collected $77,000 in donations of cash and materials. In May of 1991, a swarm of 1500 volunteers worked over a six-day period to build the facility.
Planners at the time estimated that without the donations of cash, materials and labor, the playground would cost between $150,000 to $200,000.
Students in Forest Lake also played a key role by not only helping raise funds, but by taking part in the planning stages by working with architects to design a facility by children and for children.
The facility has served the two elementary schools and the community but has fallen victim to vandals in recent years and has required repairs from time to time.
A fire set by vandals in November of 2004 led to $4000 in repairs that were paid for by school fund-raisers and the district.
In agreeing to take action on the Xccent plan this week, the board, through a request by board member Julie Corcoran, encouraged the administration to update the two schools on the plans for the new playground.
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