Menu
$7,800 repair needed to take lean out of park shelter
Long misnumbered and often misidentified, Shelterhouse No. 5 at Greencastle's Robe-Ann Park recently came within one more big gust of wind from being missing altogether.
The most recent thunderstorm that rolled through town fueled by strong winds nearly pushed the shelter over, thanks in part to three of its 10 support posts being rotted out, the Greencastle Park Board was told at its September meeting.
Consequently, the shelterhouse on the northeast side of the city park has been roped off with yellow caution tape and has been rendered unusable until it can be repaired.
Over the Labor Day holiday weekend that meant even though reservations may have been made, any family reunions or group activities planned for Shelterhouse No. 5 had to be moved to the Bob Flanigan Bandshell.
Park Director Rod Weinschenk explained how Park Maintenance Supervisor David Bault discovered the shelter leaning badly to the north the morning after the recent storm at the end of August.
"We believe wind shear hit the shelter and gave it a twist in the last big storm we had," Weinschenk said.
Criss and Hutcheson Contractors were called in to stabilize the structure and Weinschenk took the shelter out of service as unsafe until repairs can be completed.
Repair costs were estimated at $7,851 by Criss and Hutcheson, Greencastle, the Park Board was told.
Work will include replacement of all 10 shelter support posts.
It could have been worse, city officials agreed.
"I'm so happy we have our staff checking the park daily," Park Board President Beva Miller commented. "Because of that, this was caught before it was too late."
Weinschenk said he doesn't expect insurance to cover much if any of the repair costs because the supports had rotted out, and also because of the $3,000 deductible in place on such park property.
Board member John Hennette made the motion to enter into an agreement with Criss and Hutcheson for the repair project. Board members Tim Trigg, Cathy Merrell and Miller made it unanimous.
The shelterhouse topic also spawned discussion of how the park's three shelters came to be numbered one, two and five.
No. 1 is the shelter that overlooks the area in front of the bandshell, while No. 2 is the park's largest shelterhouse that sits adjacent to the skatepark on the south side of Robe-Ann.
And Nos. 3 and 4?
The both met their demise with the building of the new aquatic center and pool slide in the early 1990s, Weinschenk noted.
That left No. 5 out of sequence and oddly misnumbered.
Apparently, Weinschenk suggested, renumbering has never been an issue.
But now that it's come to light, you might say park officials could be leaning that way.