January 10, 2008
Park Updates Given at Caliente City Council

Photo by Dave Maxwell Joe Phillips, Sunrise Engineering, giving update on Caliente City Park projects.

By Dave Maxwell

At the regular monthly meeting of the Caliente City Council January 3, six projects for the City of Caliente under the direction of Sunrise Construction from Washington City, Utah, were reported on. Project Engineer, Joe Phillips, gave the update report of current progress on Dixon, Rose, and Super Parks, and the replacement of city well #3.

Phillips said he expects work will not get started on the improvements being made to Rose and Dixon Parks until after Memorial Day. Work may even be delayed until after the Fourth of July celebrations to be held in Caliente. The new regulation Little League field at Super Park will not be ready for the 2008 season.

Phillips said he did not know what construction costs would be for Dixon and Rose Parks once bids come back from interested contractors, although he thought most of what had been planned would not go over budget. He said some things have been pulled back but will not really be that noticeable.

At Rose Park, he said, the pavilion and gazebo will use up almost the entire budget. Items originally planned for Rose Park, such as horseshoe pits, curb and gutter, new irrigation system, mounded seating and playground equipment, will have to wait until later.

In June 2008, a conceptual plan for the Rail City Linear Park is expected from Sunrise Engineering. A 25-foot easement from Union Pacific Railroad in order to build the Rail City Linear Park is critical to the project, Phillips said. At present, UPRR has not given permission to the City to use the strip of land where the park will be located. Phillips said he did not know how long that might be delayed.

The Meadow Valley Wash Linear Park is the largest of the projects Sunrise is working on. It will most likely have to wait until the other three park projects are completed. Phillips said planning for this park is more complicated because it lies within the flood plain and water shed which requires an environmental study to be done. In addition, plans have to be made to accommodate 100-year storm drainage and, if necessary, replacing NDOT bridges at both ends of town.

In other action, the Council approved a motion to dispose of five City owned garbage trucks that are not in good working order.

In addition, a question over the anchor chain fence at Dixon Park was raised by Council members. Some are in favor of leaving the chain, rumored to be from the U.S.S. Nevada, while others would like to see it removed and disposed of. During discussion, Chris Martin of the local VFW chapter, offered to take the chain, should the Council chose to remove it, and place it around the Caliente Veterans cemetery. Mayor Kevin Phillips said he thought the offer by the VFW would be something agreeable to most everyone; however, no motion was made by Council to take any action.