Support, donations make progress on Ponderosa Pavillion

The new pavilion at Ponderosa Park by the Hill City Visitor Information Center (VIC) is coming to fruition thanks to a large group of volunteers and  community support. 
The Hill City Park Board gave an update on the project and its project at Memorial Park at the Sept. 22 Hill City Common Council meeting. The board has $195,000 earmarked for park projects, and aldermen approved $65,000 for the park board to spend on the Ponderosa project and its dug out replacement at Memorial Park.
Park board president Cassandra Ott said the park board “sat on” the Ponderosa project until “it could find a way forward so it didn’t cost the city.”
Ott said the endeavor is a “huge community investment,” adding, “a lot of people want to see this happen.” 
She called Ponderosa a “highly visible park in our community.” 
She said the project began out of a need to replace the cabin shack that gets rolled out each skating season. Russ Johnson was in charge of the original  construction of that structure and according to Ott, “felt some obligation to it.”
Johnson is donating his time to act as project manager for the new, permanent  structure. 
“He donated a lot of his time and energy,” said Ott, adding that Johnson has designed the new pavilion. 
Johnson will oversee the three phases of the project which include pouring concrete, adding a frame and roof and adding all the “goodies” like cupboards  to store skates. Phases allow manageable progress that create opportunities to collect donations and will allow for a natural stop gap in the project with a more usable space being created at each phase. 
Ott said Johnson designed the new pavilion to match the aesthetics of the building currently in the park.
Johnson cut the sod with a cutter donated by Tool Time in Rapid City. John Knapp said Johnson approached the Tin City Masons to help roll and stack sod. The masons and family members did so Sept. 28 for about an hour and a half. Knapp said the Masons wanted to be part of the project as “another way to give back to the community.” 
Johnson has also secured other volunteers and donations. Simmons is deeply discounting the engineered  fill, and Nielson Excavating is donating the placing and compacting of the fill.
Embedded structural plates might also be donated.
Johnson got one  $51,000 bid to present to aldermen as a means of possible project costs, but all bids will be handled by a separate bid committee, headed up by park board member Nick Wilkerson. The bid committee will solicit and review bids for the project to “keep things more neutral,” Ott said.
Johnson called the concrete work “pretty substantial,” explaining the need for structural steel posts, sidewalls and capped concrete tops. He said the pavilion will be similar to the Canyon Lake Pavilion but with the roof structure of the VIC.
Lori Comer, also a park board member, has formed a nonprofit, A Heart for the Parks, to get donations for this and other park projects. Comer said the fundraising group has already elected officers and is working on a mission statement with the goal of becoming a 501(c)3. Comer is also in charge of social media posts.
Ott hopes to have phase one complete before the snow.
The park board also got a floodplain development permit approved by aldermen for dug outs at Memorial Park. Four dug outs will be built by Travis Santistevan and the Hill City High School shop class with materials purchased by the park board. The Hill City Evergreen Garden Club gave the park board a donation for the materials  and money from the Hill City Area Chamber of Commerce July Fourth Ice Cream Social is also being donated to the cause. Sherry Liddell, president of the Hill City Evergreen Garden Club, said while the club considered four organizations, “We felt partnering with the park board to assist with the costs of the dugouts would impact youth and families for years to come.”
The dugouts will be open on two sides with bottoms that could drain water.   The “nice thing about these dugouts is they are moveable,” said Ott. 
She said they will be placed on a concrete pad. Post anchors will be used, as will cedar tone structural timber. 
Ott estimates the dugouts will cost $2,000 plus the cost of concrete.
“Ideally, we’d have them ready for next season,” Ott said but did not have a specific timeline. 
The project also includes replacing a four foot outfield fence in kind.
Aldermen were supportive of both projects, and Ott said she will continue to keep them informed about the phases of each project.