By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The St. Joseph City Council this week voted unanimously to approve the design and concept plan for the Krug Park renovation project.
There's about $12 million available for this project after the passage of a half-cent parks sales tax in August 2021.
Chuck Kempf, director of parks and recreation for the city of St. Joseph, says the next step is to advertise a request for design-build qualifications and get detailed drawings together before signing a contract with a design-build professional.
"There will be teams of contractors and design professionals who will bond together in some fashion," Kempf told St. Joseph Post. "That's up to them how they want to structure that. They'll make proposals that will basically tell us why we should select their team to proceed with the project."
There's another $7 million available for park improvements made possible through the capital improvement projects sales tax, which was just renewed for another five years this past August.
Kempf says the Krug Park improvement project is wide-ranging, including anything from the amphitheater, to water and sewage, playground equipment and restrooms.
"Anything from that to renovating the old bathrooms by the picnic area to creating a new playground and then historical preservation work," Kempf said, "which will involve stone work, brick work, the wood, the copula and some of the stuff around the children's circus and the castle area."
The park improvements don’t end at Krug Park. Kempf says there’s about 40 active parks projects currently - many of them smaller, maintenance projects.
But, one of the bigger triumphs lately has been Civic Arena. A newly renovated Civic has been the host of many high-profile events, especially in athletics.
It just hosted a Division I women's basketball game between Mizzou and Kansas State this past Saturday. Kempf says people are really starting to see the value in the major upgrades at Civic.
"I think people are seeing the potential and the renovations we've done already, the floor, the new scoreboard, the new seating is getting a lot of love," Kempf said. "We're getting a lot of love about the seating."
Kempf says more improvements are still in the works for Civic, including new HVAC units, improved restrooms and roof repairs.
As for other big projects to watch out for, Kempf notes ongoing Phil Welch Stadium improvements, restroom renovations across the entire St. Joseph park system and more.
"Most of the current restrooms in the park system were built in the 50s," Kempf revealed. "Those have served a good purpose for a long time, but obviously anything constructed in the 50s is probably not ADA compliant and has probably outlived its useful life."
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