North Gateway Park Receives Floating Dock
Barbara Crimond | Jun 24, 2016 | Comments 0
First the vault restroom, and now the floating dock has been set up at North Gateway Park in Lamar. Crews from the City of Lamar Public Works Department and Colorado Parks and Wildlife spent Wednesday and Thursday, June 22-23rd, putting the dock together at the park and assembling the final sections once they were floating in the main pond. The city had received the parts several weeks ago, but some landscaping was needed along the shore to accommodate the early assembly efforts.
Lamar received funding in 2014 from the GoCO, ‘Fishing is Fun’ grant. Lamar’s share of the $300,000 award was $48,000, according to David Miller, CPW Technician. “It was a little less than we expected, but it will cover the costs of our projects,” he explained. Some of the funding has already been used to purchase the permanent vault restroom that was installed at the park last week. The final portion of the three part project is a shade shelter which will be erected, probably later this summer, in the vicinity of the dock. The dock, known as a ‘Super Deck’, cost $35,000.
“We spent most of Wednesday assembling the dock and didn’t think we would get that much done, but it all came together which just left us with floating the main portion of the dock and connecting it with the base that sits on shore,” he said. That part was a little tricky. Working with a plow which leveled the shore into a gradient down to the dock, several of the staff was trying to hammer a connecting pole through the last two sections of dock, mid-day Thursday. It didn’t work from one direction, but they had an easier time securing it in place from the other side with the help of several staff who held both sections in place. They had an assist from a CPW boat which kept the dock from being blown around by the afternoon winds.
“We’re only in the preliminary stages at this point and we still have a lot to do before this is complete,” Miller stated. Plans call for a trail to be built to make access to the dock easier for the elderly and disabled residents. “We’ll probably have some kind of base to start, but in the future we hope to afford a concrete pad that leads right to the entry.”
There were some younger people helping with the project. Miller said he had one intern and three summer temps from the CPW who assisted with the project including the city’s crew, “We had the whole gang out here on Wednesday, working on this.” The dock still had to be secured in place and that was going to be accomplished with several 14’ and 16’ foot poles which would anchor the deck on both sides. Miller stated, “At the end of the dock, about 40 feet long, you have a 30 foot drop off between here and the shore. These poles will allow the dock to ride up and down as the water level in the pond adjusts.” He added that the deck will stay in place through the year, but public access may be closed off once the pond ices over. “We’re doing that purely for safety.” He stated there should be some decent fishing off the end of the dock. “Fish are just like us in that manner. They like shade and the dock will give them a lot of that.”
By Russ Baldwin
Filed Under: City of Lamar • County • Entertainment • Featured • Public Safety • Sports • Tourism
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