By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph city officials are waiting for proposals from design and construction teams interested in the renovation of Krug Park.
City Manager Bryan Carter says the city has met with both design and construction teams about improvements at the park, the largest project proposed when voters approved the half-cent parks sales tax in 2021.
Carter says the city worked hard to get a feel for what St. Joseph residents want.
“It’s been about a year going through a planning and community outreach process to figure out what the community wants,” Carter tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “Do they want everything patched up with some ADA elements added or do they want to rethink how some of these things operate?”
Those concepts have been related to the firms, which will draft concrete plans within the $12 million budget.
Carter says this is a long, complicated project to undertake.
“The park’s kind of unique,” Carter says of Krug Park, located in north St. Joseph. “It’s not one building that you can maybe close for two months, completely renovate it, and bring it back online. You have to work to make sure the community still has access to the park. We can’t just close the doors, lock the gate, and say, wait for us to get done.”
Carter says the traditional Christmas festivities at the park will continue through renovation.
Carter says the design and construction firms have been told that special attention must be paid to the amphitheater, the children’s circus, and the castle.