Attend Keewaydin School groundbreaking June 4

Pool, part of playground to remain where they are now

by Tesha M. Christensen

The community is invited to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Keewaydin School expansion on Monday, June 4, 2012 at 6:30 p.m.

With this $16 million addition, Keewaydin, the upper campus of Lake Nokomis Community School, will double its space.

The program will last about an hour. Following several speakers, Keewaydin and Weenonah students will present their time capsule project, and the seventh and eighth graders will unveil their legacy program.

POOL AND PART OF PLAYGROUND TO REMAIN

The addition will be placed to the south of the existing building, but it will not go as far south as it was initially presented in January. This means that the K-5 playground structure on the west side and the wading pool will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Given the remaining 20-year lifespan of the pool and the $500,000 tab of replacing it, the steering committee worked hard to reduce the foot plan of the building in order to save it, said Doug Walter, who represented the Nokomis East Neighborhood Association (NENA) on the construction steering committee.

However, it is not yet known whether the pool can be used during the construction project this summer. The pool’s location is about 30 feet from the south edge of the new addition, and will be very close to the construction staging area, stated Walter. A six-to-eight-foot-high fence would need to be erected around it during construction, and to provide a pathway to the pool. Because of its close proximity to the construction area, the pool will need frequent cleaning. The cost to do this work is not yet known, but estimates range from $40,000 to $230,000 to save the pool.

“It is the district’s intent to enable the playground and pool to remain open during construction,” said MPS Capital Planning and Project Development Manager David Richards.

“This will likely be relatively easy with the playground, as it is closer to the street and probably less affected by adjacent construction activities,” Richards added. “A greater tolerance for uncertainty may be necessary regarding keeping the pool open, as Park Board staff will need to evaluate the cumulative effect of construction activities on pool ambiance, pool use, pool maintenance and other operational factors.”

The swings, tot lot and basketball court will be removed, but leaving the K-5 playground equipment and wading pool in place will give the park department time to obtain funds for moving the pool and playground to its own property on the east side of the school.

The parks department has been working with the community to create a new master plan for Keewaydin Park. Following public comment in March, the plan was modified. This updated plan will be presented to the public sometime in July, and then go to the Park Board for approval.

“Prior to school being out for the summer, we will also be conducting a parking capacity analysis to address concerns raised by a few residents about how the change in the park may impact parking in the neighborhood,” said Minneapolis Park Board Planner Jennifer Ringold.

Park staff also plan to solicit input prior to the larger community meeting regarding the types of playground equipment community members would like to see at the park.

One of the ballfields will likely serve as a staging area during the construction project. It will need to be rebuilt afterwards.

DETAILS ON NEW BUILDING

The 42,000-square-foot addition will contain eight new classrooms, a music room, two computer labs, lunch room, kitchen, media center and a full-size gymnasium with 100 seats, pointed out Keewaydin Principal Jane Ellis. The new auditorium will seat over 300 adults in tiered seats.

The entire project is on schedule, noted Ellis.

Bids on the foundation package were due May 31, and will be reviewed by the school board on June 12. Construction will begin 10 days later.

Instead of drilling 90 feet into the ground, the school district has decided to use a Geopier foundation system, according to MSP employee Donald Bielinski. Geopier is a ground improvement method using soil replacement technology to strengthen soft soil with stiff rock columns constructed by heavy equipment crowd and vertical impact ramming that prestrains and prestresses the soil.

The second bid phase will include the rest of the building. Those bids will be approved by the school board in late July/early August.

Richards believes this is a desirable time to solicit bids for a construction project because the construction market has been depressed for so long. “We’re hoping that will enhance competition and interest,” he said.

One of the exciting things about this new addition is that it will not only be great for students, but the community will be able to use it, as well, pointed out Walter. The auditorium, gym, and kitchenette can be accessed by the public from the south side of the building. While there is a community building at Keewaydin Park, it has only a multi-use space and not the full-size gym the addition will include.

At its final meeting in May, the Keewaydin steering committee discussed whether to widen the lobby area between the old and the new sections of the building by two feet in order to create a larger gathering space, noted Walter. In the current plan 18 feet is allocated for the lobby. The desire to widen it has been discussed since the school plan was first unveiled. However, because bids have already been solicited for the foundation part of the construction project, the group decided to leave things are they are, said Walter.

Members also considered whether to erect a motorized partition in the gymnasium now or later. Because the school currently has only one gym teacher, the group decided to hold off spending money on the folding partition now.

The committee also prioritized items it would like to add back onto the plan if bids come in favorably later this summer. Among the items on the list are display cases, signs, benches and floor materials.

“The original goals we started with were the goals we ended with,” Keewaydin Principal Jane Ellis said, adding that the steering committee was a cohesive group throughout the entire planning process.

“It’s been a pleasure to be part of such an amazing group of dedicated parents, MPS staff, and community members,” said steering committee member Jean Hutchinson Legler. “RSP was great to work with. Kudos also to NENA for their support. As a parent and community member, it is awesome to see MPS invest in Lake Nokomis Community School - Keewaydin Campus.”

Walter pointed out that with this project, Minneapolis Public Schools is investing in the first new facility in south Minneapolis in decades. When the project is complete next year, “This area will have one of the nicest middle schools anywhere in south Minneapolis,” said Walter.

The effort of staff and community members was recognized by NENA during its annual meeting in May. It presented the Best of Nokomis Award to Lake Nokomis parents and staff.

“It was very nice to have our parents and staff recognized,” said Ellis.

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Construction steering committee members:

• Tom Davidson, lead engineer,

• Sarah Dutton, Keewaydin Family Liaison, parent

• Jane Ellis, Keewaydin Campus Principal

• Stephen Flisk, Area B Superintendent

• Heather Hall, Keewaydin teacher

• Jean Hutchinson-Legler, parent

• George Jelatis, community member

• Jay Larson, parent

• Matt Lee, parent

• Lorna Wickham-Lewis, Wenonah teacher

• Elizabeth Ness, Wenonah Campus Principal

• Andrew Pritchard, Keewaydin teacher

• David Richards, MPS Facilities

• Jennifer Ringold, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

• Gina Rysdon, parent

• Doug Walter, Nokomis East Neighborhood Association

This story printed in the June 2012 edition of the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger.

Keewaydin playground location set

New equipment and pool will go to the southeast of park building

by Tesha M. Christensen

Although the parks department doesn’t yet know when the playground will be replaced at Keewaydin Park, it does know where it will be located.

After a community meeting in March, the decision was made to position the playground and pool to the east of the park building, on land that once housed tennis courts.

The playground equipment will be displaced by the expansion of Keewaydin School. The groundbreaking on a $16 million addition that will double the size of Keewaydin School will be held in June; work is expected to be underway by the third week of June and continue for one year. At that time, part of the existing playground will be off limits.

“The K-12 play structure and wading pool will be open for use throughout and after construction,” noted Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Project Manager Deborah Bartels.  “The pre-K structure, the swings, and the Galaxy spinners will be removed to facilitate construction.”

Since a design of the school expansion was first released to the public in January, the school district has continued to modify the footprint. “There has been a concentrated effort to compact the building so there would be more play space to the southern end,” observed Doug Walters of the Nokomis East Neighborhood Association who serves on the school construction steering committee.

This not only lowers the construction cost of the school building, but also may allow the pool to remain where it is until the parks department is able to set aside funds for its replacement, he said.

In the first expansion design, the addition was located on top of the existing playground and pool. It will no longer extend that far south.

TWO CONCEPTS PRESENTED

At the March community park meeting, attendees evaluated two concept plans. Concept one included one ball field, two soccer fields, two tennis court, and a playground/pool area where on ball field is currently located on the southwest side of the park property.

While this would position the playground close to the school, some residents were concerned about policing as the area would be difficult to see from the street, noted Bartels.

This would place the playground and pool near the school loading dock and garbage area, as well as next to a large gymnasium wall without windows, pointed out Walters. Additionally, the soil in this area is peat, and in order to put a playground there better soil would need to be hauled in, upping the cost of the project. In the past, this area was a swamp and a dump. The school will need to drive pilings in 90 feet in order to construct its addition in the area.

A representative from the Minnehaha Falls Athletic Club (MFAC) told attendees that their biggest need is for ball fields for youth games. “There are no other baseball diamonds in our area,” said Walters. “They are all booked.” The diamonds at Bossen Field are heavily used by adult leagues that pay rental for the fields.

With that knowledge, participants favored concept two, which retains two under-12 ball fields and two soccer fields.

The other big difference between concept one and two was the inclusion of tennis courts in concept one. However, given that there are new courts at 15th Avenue and Minnehaha Parkway, as well as at Lake Hiawatha Park and Lake Nokomis Park, the tennis courts were given a lower priority, according to Walters.

The concept favored by attendees locates the playground and pool in the southeast corner of the park land, in an area that has been open space since the tennis courts were removed in 2007 because they were in poor condition.

However, community members thought that the playground/pool concept number two as presented was too “formal” and instead preferred the “ambiguous” and “organic” design of concept one, stated Walters.

Bartels is currently working to revise concept two. It will be presented to neighborhood residents at another community meeting; a date has not yet been set for this meeting. “The full extent of the improvements that will be presented in the plan will be determined at the next meeting,” stated Bartels. “We know that a wading pool and playgrounds will be included in the plan.”

The parks department hopes to present the revised plan for Keewaydin Park to the Parks and Recreation Board in May for approval.

COST AND TIMING

After the final design has been approved, the parks department will solicit cost estimates. Then it will begin looking for funding sources. Because the school project was approved last November, the parks department was not able to work these changes into its budget. A new wading pool/splash pad will cost about $500,000, and a new playground about $300,000. It could cost $200,000 to fix the drainage issues on the athletic fields. The parks department has budgeted $500,000 total to split between the service area of Morris, McRea, and Pearl in 2013.

Once funding is identified, the parks department will determine when the equipment will be installed. “There is a push to get the playground open by fall,” said Walters.

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Concept 1 – Central playground with SE tennis courts

PROS

• Playgrounds located closer to school for use by students.

• Parents can easily observe three play containers from a single vantage point.

•Wading pool is near rec center for bathrooms and supervision.

• Tennis courts fill void in geographic distribution in SE metro.

• Tennis courts provide recreational activity for a different age group.

CONS

• Loss of one additional ball field.

• No buffer between fields and playground – possible safety issues.

• Possible expensive and extensive soil corrections required for pool and playgrounds.

• Policing: centrally located playgrounds behind buildings are less visible from the street.

• Retaining walls needed – athletic field grades are three feet lower than rec center.

Concept 2 – SE playground with athletic field

PROS

• Playground buffered from athletic fields by trees and topography

• No fields lost – 2 ballfields and 2 soccer fields

• Policing: area is very visible from the street

• Soils are good; construction less expensive.

CONS

• Distance of playground from school

• Distance between Pre-K structure and K-12 structure will make parental observation more difficult.

•  Wading pool distance from building; supervision more difficult

• No tennis courts

• Close to street:  fencing needed at perimeter of playground to meet current playground safety standards.

This story printed in the April 2012 edition of the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger.

Give input on Keewaydin park plan March 6

Parks department working to relocate pool and playground

by Tesha M. Christensen

Check out the new design for the Keewaydin Park on Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Keewaydin Park Recreation Center, 3030 E. 53rd St.

Since gathering input from community residents during a meeting Jan. 21, Minneapolis Parks and Recreation staff has been working on a new master plan for the park. The expansion of Lake Nokomis Community School’s Keewaydin  Campus has prompted this redesign, as the existing playground and wading pool are on school-owned land and will need to be relocated. The park board supported building to the south in order to preserve the athletic fields on the east.

“I greatly appreciate that over 35 members of the Keewaydin community came out for the Keewaydin Park workshop,” said Fifth District Commissioner Carol Kummer. “This level of participation shows how much people care about this park.”

WHAT DO COMMUNITY RESIDENTS WANT?

Some common themes expressed during the Jan. 21 meeting were replacing the play equipment and water features; aligning the fields to better serve youth softball, baseball and soccer; and saving the trees and as much green space as possible, stated Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board Manager of Public Engagement and Citywide Planning Jennifer Ringold.

“We were impressed with the level of similarity in the features desired by the participants,” stated Ringold.

Some wanted a new tennis court. The former ones were removed in 2007 because they were in poor condition, not because they weren’t getting used. It will cost between $50,000 - $75,000 to install a single tennis court.

While some of the existing items can be moved to another spot at the park, others, such as the main play structure, much of the equipment in the Pre-K container, the seesaw, and the spring animals can’t. They are nearing the end of their life expectancy, explained Ringold. A playground generally lasts about 20 years. “The larger play structure, although faded, and Galaxy Spica spinners for the older children are in good condition and can be moved. It is probably more economical to replace the swings.  However, the safety zone for swings are big consumers of space; we might not have room to replace these,” she added.

Additionally, the park board won’t reuse any equipment that doesn’t meet existing safety and handicap-accessible standards.

The estimated cost for a new wading pool/splash pad is $500,000, and a new playground will cost about $300,000.

The athletic fields have drainage issues and could also use renovation, which would cost about $200,000, according to Ringold.

The fields are used most heavily for soccer; last year there were eight teams with 91 participants. They are also used for baseball and softball. Over the last three years, soccer and baseball enrollment has stayed steady. The number of softball teams dropped from four teams to two teams in 2011. However, all four existing field are in poor condition, damaged by heavy use and ice sheets. They are no longer flooded for ice skating in the winter.

Jay Larson, a member of the school steering committee, attended the park meeting in January. He said it was reassuring for him to hear that the pool would likely have been replaced by the park board within the next few years, and that the playground equipment was nearing the end of its life expectancy.

“After this meeting, and as a Keewaydin resident who lives only a couple of blocks from the park, I feel much better about the school and park’s decision to partner and move forward with the demolition and rebuild of Keewaydin’s playground and pool,” Larson stated.

“I will admit, being a parent of three young children who use Keewaydin park almost daily during the warmer months and having to possibly live without a park for a summer or two will be rough.  However, we will simply walk a few more blocks away and be able to utilize other nearby parks with playground equipment and wading pool (such as Hiawatha or Nokomis).”

WHERE WILL THE MONEY COME FROM?

The parks department has not yet identified where the money to move and/or purchase new playground equipment and a pool will come from. According to Ringold, the parks department has budgeted $500,000 total to split between the service area of Morris, McRea, and Pearl in 2013. “We expect some of this funding will help with improvements for Keewaydin,” Ringold stated. “We will also be working with other possible funders and looking for grants after the master planning is complete.”

Will Keewaydin School allocate some of its $16 million construction budget for the playground? Until the steering committee finalizes the design and receives estimates, the school doesn’t know what its budget will cover, according to Larson. “The current playground and pool just south of the school is a priority for the committee and much discussion is happening in/around what to do,” he remarked.

Keewaydin School has not yet identified when the playground will be removed to accommodate the construction project. Construction is slated to begin as soon as classes let out in June.

Larson observed that at this time, “We do not know how the construction timeline will lay out and how this will effect recess time for the students at Keewaydin.  However, it is most likely that students will be re-directed to another location for recess during construction.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

At the March 6 meeting, attendees will review the concepts developed based on the Jan. 21 meeting and identify the community’s preferred plan. This preferred plan will become the master plan that is presented to the Board of Commissioners for approval. Park staff anticipate bringing the master plan to the Board of Commissioners in April.

For further information, visit the park project page on the MPRB website: http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=1320.

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SIDEBARS

COMMENTS FROM RESIDENTS

Thirty-five residents attended a planning session about the park on Jan. 21. Here are some of their comments:

• This is a young child playground.

• Basketball is available at the great new school. Place court on school property.

• Keep the rec center separate from the school; it is in good condition and serves its purpose well. The space is adequate for young kids.

• Preserve the sledding hills on the east side: they are used a ton and they are the only sledding hills near this neighborhood.

• Preserve the green space. Keep as many trees as possible.

• Maintain the diversity of activities in the park for children from Pre-K to grades K-8.

• Keep all play areas close together and seating/picnic areas close to the play structures.

• Create parking sufficient for evening activities. Consider street parking impact on neighborhood).

HISTORY OF KEEWAYDIN PARK

1927 - City and school district agree to cooperate on the purchase and use of a new school and playground, which would generate a “substantial saving” to the city.

1929 - Playing fields, skating and hockey rinks in use.

1932 - Four tennis courts and concrete wading pool finished. The playground was located where it currently is, while the pool was where the Rec Center is today. There were four tennis courts in the southeast corner.

1972 - Recreation center opened. Four tennis courts reduced to two. Parking lot, playgrounds, hard surface court, and wading pool are in current locations.

2000 - The school board contributed

$30,000, the Nokomis East Neighborhood Association contributed $70,000 and the MPRB contributed $200,000 to replace the playground, improve the wading pool and resurface the basketball area.

2007 - Tennis courts removed due to poor condition. The use of the athletic fields for skating has been discontinued.

Information courtesy of Deborah Bartels of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.


This story was printed in the March 2012 edition of the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger.