One of the many exciting improvements at the Birch Grove Community Center is the construction of a brick hearth oven. A celebration will be held at Birch Grove from 2 – 5 p.m. on Saturday, September 29 so the public can see the new outdoor classroom pavilion, the ice skating hockey rink, and the hearth oven. The folks who built the oven, pictured above, will be on hand to fire up the oven and bake some pizza.
Lots of things are happening in Tofte. At its September 13, 2012 township board meeting, supervisors Jim King, Alan “D.C.” Olsen, and Paul James approved vouchers of $25,661 for the International Mountain Bicycling Association for mountain bike trail construction, $25,654 to DSGW Architects for a senior housing project architectural/ engineering study, and $24,598 to ORB Management, overseeing improvements to the Birch Grove Community Center grounds.
The Birch Grove improvements are being funded with Cook County 1 percent recreation and infrastructure sales tax revenue. Transfers from the township’s 1 percent fund to general checking for August totaled $321,487.07.
Birch Grove Community Center
The new hockey rink and picnic pavilion at Birch Grove Community Center were almost finished, Supervisor Olsen reported. The outdoor classroom had been relocated and anchored down. The tennis court had been paved and fencing was on its way. A special coating to enhance playability as well as striping will be laid next spring.
Contractor Jeff Dillehay, owner of Timberline Builders of Tofte, was completing the warming house. The board discussed a concern brought up by Jerry Gervais regarding pillars for the roof overhang that had been cemented into the ground beside the floating slab the building had been built on. Gervais said the roof could crack if the building moved but the pillars did not. This had been discussed with ORB Management, who agreed that this could be a problem. The Meyer Group, who drafted the design, put a disclaimer into the plans saying they would not be responsible for problems related to this.
Supervisor James said he had approved this onsite. Contractor Dillehay said the slab has plenty of solid material under it and insulation around it to keep the building from heaving. After the meeting, he said that contractors often make judgments like this onsite and that any problems with this in the future would go back to him for resolution.
Supervisor Olsen said he and Birch Grove Community Center architect Tim Meyer had inspected the outdoor improvements being done at the site, and Meyer pointed out that his company had created some designs for the picnic pavilion before the township decided to purchase a package from another company. Meyer said he put in $8,000 worth of work but was hoping he could get paid $4,470.50.
Tim Meyer had thought the township wanted him to design the timber frame pavilion, but the proper procedure would have been for him to get the work request in writing, Olsen said. The package the township went with cost less than half what the one Meyer designed would have cost.
It seems like every time they turn around, they find out some kind of detail was overlooked, Supervisor James said. They’re trusting ORB Management to oversee the Birch Grove project but keep being asked for more money, he said.
The board passed a motion tabling Meyer’s request until after the project is complete.
The board also discussed priorities for how the rest of the 1 percent money would be spent. Supervisor James said he didn’t think they would need an underground water tank to flood the rink. He recommended putting money toward a timber frame roof over the new outdoor bread oven and a paved connection to the bike path. Decisions regarding the use of funds were tabled until the next meeting.
James said his commercial garage property next to the community center had been torn up and trees had been destroyed by equipment in the process of the work being done. He had given permission for them to cross his property but the restoration that had been promised had not happened. Supervisor King recommended that ORB Management and Edwin E. Thoreson Inc. be advised that the job will not be complete until James’s property is restored to his satisfaction.
A grand opening celebration will be held on the grounds starting at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, September 29.
Bike trail grant support
The board voted to support a state Legacy Grant application for a trail that would connect the two already existing Tofte mountain bike trails.
IRRRB housing grant
The board approved a resolution supporting a grant application for $350,000 from the Iron Range Resource and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) for the senior housing project being planned. The grant would be used for clearing land and installing sewer, water, and a road on 29 acres behind the Birch Grove Community Center where the housing complex would be built.
Supervisor King said the IRRRB is receiving four funding applications from Cook County: for a water pipeline leading up the Lutsen Ski Hill Road, improvements to Superior National at Lutsen Golf Course, a privately owned zip line in Grand Marais, and the Tofte senior housing project.
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