Grady Park upgrades get go-ahead

Saukville will be upgrading some of the amenities at Grady Park next year after the Village Board approved an amended Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan on Monday.

The village is expecting to receive a federal grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which will pay for 50% of the park projects. Those include expanding the basketball court, reconstructing the tennis courts with pickleball lines added and upgrading the north soccer field and batting cage.

The total cost of the projects is estimated at $158,800, with the upgrades expected to be completed by 2019.

Plans for a new pavilion in Grady Park, which is not part of the federal grant, are on track, with construction scheduled to be done by Memorial Day.

“The posts are up and the contractors are starting to work on the existing storage building before putting the beams up and the roof on,” Village of Saukville’s Public Works Supt. Ray deBruijn said. 

The pavilion will be approximately 48 by 124 feet in size. That’s slightly larger  than the previous pavilion, which was built in the early 1970s. 

Planning for the project began in 2016. The Public Works Department tore down the old pavilion in December. 

“Now that we’re above ground, the state permits allow us to finish construction and get it going,” deBruijn said. 

“There’s electrical work that needs to be installed and We Energies is running a new line to the new building along with a gap line, which will supply the concession building.”

Before construction began, workers had to wait in order to get the frost footings installed because of the cold weather this winter. 

“It made us do a little bit of a different construction for the footings,” deBruijn said. “We had to dig a long trench instead of digging holes for each footing individually.”

Other than the weather delay, he said, the project has been running smoothly so far.

“With any project there are a couple hiccups here and there, but nothing serious,” deBruijn said.

“It’s moving along well and now that we’re above ground, people can actually see the progress instead of looking at stacks of material laying on the ground.”

The pavilion will be similar to the one in Quade Park, which features laminated arch beam posts and an exposed tongue-and-groove ceiling. 

“The only difference is the new pavilion is a lot bigger and has a storage area on the north side of it,” deBruijn said.

The existing storage facility will be attached to the pavilion, which will store park supplies and baseball equipment. 

DeBruijn said he expects the pavilion to be rented almost every weekend for birthday parties and business gatherings. In addition, the village will use it to host National Night Out and a car show that benefits the Saukville Fire Department. 

The cost of the pavilion is approximately $175,000, with the village borrowing the funds for the project.