Demolition nears at former Americana amusement park

Monroe is moving forward with the demolition of dilapidated buildings at the former Americana amusement park that is being transformed into the new Monroe Bicentennial Commons park.

City Council approved an emergency ordinance that allows the city manger to contract with Logan Creek LLC, who was the lowest of three bids submitted for the project.

Logan Creek’s bid of $625,000 was well below the engineer’s estimate of $1.3 million for the project, City Manager Bill Brock said.

“Demolition is hard to estimate,” he said.

The city does not have a firm date for demolition to begin, but the proposal for Logan Creek’s bid said it would start work within 14 days of the city issuing the order to commence work.

The completion date for the project is Nov. 1.

The Monroe Bicentennial Commons park project includes demolishing a majority of the dilapidated structures, creating a walking trail, and the rehabilitation of one building that will be used for future storage of maintenance equipment.

Officials have previously said about 12 acres of pavement will need to be removed to make the park safe for walkers.

The project will also include razing the former water tower at the park, Brock said. A majority of the picnic shelters — about seven in all — as well as the Carousel building, and a storage building and office building will be excluded from the demolition.

Once demolition is complete, the city will begin smaller projects such as making the trails safe to use if people want to walk the loop through the park, Brock said.

Monroe City Council also approved individual master plans for Monroe Bicentennial Commons, Baker Sports Complex and Community Park during its June 12 meeting. The official approval was needed so city staff could begin applying for various grants from state agencies, according to Brock.

In May, the city’s consultant presented the draft master plans that were developed after months of discussions, meetings, and community forums.

Cost estimates for each park are: $6.09 million to redevelop Community Park; $1.29 million to develop Baker Sports Complex; and $9.71 million to redevelop Monroe Bicentennial Commons.

City officials said the number of phases needed to develop the park depends on funding and could be spread over 10 t0 20 years. A portion of the 0.5-percent earned income tax increase approved last fall by Monroe voters is earmarked for infrastructure and parks improvements.

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