Golf Course Work Nearing Completion

Among all the rain drops Lundell Construction continues to move forward on the East Central Project.  It's been a while since I updated so we'll a lot of updates here.  Lots of pictures with this update!

First a note of caution:  Golfers should note that in the area of work being done the bare ground where work has been done is very muddy following rain events especially heavy rain events.  Please use caution when trying to pass in those areas and use the available gravel cart path between the two ponds and holes #1 and #9 for crossing the project area.

Work is getting close to complete on the golf course but the weather will still play a major role in the progress and the final timing of the work and when the contractor can move off site.  With the upcoming week looking very wet it is possible that the project will not see much progress this holiday shorten week.

Lundell was doing finishing touches last week to the major earth work parts of the golf course work (Phase 1) touching up the berms on the north and south sides of hole #9 and finishing up the final grading on the two ponds.  That work is now finished.

Contractor working on finishing up the berms on Hole #9

Shot of Hole #9 looking east with the berms to the side and the pond .

On Thursday the contractor installed the iron filings in the southern pond.  The filings will help reduce the phosphorous that comes off the golf course.  In the following picture you can see the product being used.

Photo of the iron filings

The filings were mixed with sand in a small cut our area of the east side of the pond shown in the picture below.  In that picture the contractor is filling the pocket area with sand prior to putting the filings on top.

Contractor putting down the first layer of sand

Once the sand was in place they placed a thin layer of the iron filings over the top.  The filings and sand were placed in two lifts or sections with each section being blended together.

Spreading the iron filings on top of the first layer of sand.

Once the filings were in place they used a tractor to till the filings into the sand and then a second layer was placed down with a final two inch layer of sand on the top.

Tilling the filings into the sand layers

The area will be playable must like a sand trap with the iron filings below the top layer of sand.  Water from the course draining to the west will filter into the sand area and filter the water before running into the pond.  Additionally, during heavy rain events the pond will fill up and the top layer of the pond will spill over into the sand area filtering that water as well.  The sand, iron filings area was built with a border on it to prevent the sand and iron filings from slipping back into the pond.

Since our last update the contractor also had their sub contractor in Storm Lake to work on the second bore under the railroad tracks.

The survey crew from the project engineers, Bolton & Menk were also in town this past week marking the areas for the cart paths.  The contractor then cut in the middle cart part (the path between holes #1 and #9) on Thursday.  Golfers are encouraged to use this route and this route only to cross the construction area for the time being especially following rain events when the other dirt areas will be muddy and impassable.

Survey crew marking out the cart paths

So what's left on the project?  The sub-contractors for seeding and plantings will be in (weather pending) this next week (May 28th - 31st) to seed the golf course and plant the plants in the ponds.  City crews will be installing the water lines through the project area and the sub-contractor for the paving will be in to pave the cart paths.  Once those tasks are complete the contractor will be ready to move on to another area of the project.

At the present time we anticipate the contractor to move to the north of the project area and start the digging out of the ponds north of the railroad tracks through the old abandoned railroad right-of-way that the City owns moving north to East 4th Street.  They are going to move there prior to digging the ponds in front of the condo area due to equipment availability.  We don't anticipate any construction to take place in the housing sub-division area or between the railroad tracks and HWY 7 until the pipe crew is back onsite.

Cleaning Stormwater Through Iron Filtration

Phosphorus pollution is the primary cause of algae blooms in lakes.  In addition to being unsightly, severe algae growth can deplete the oxygen levels in the lake and seriously affect fish health.  In severe cases, extreme algae growth can give rise to the toxic bluegreen algae that has been known to kill pets that drink the tainted water.

The storm water runoff that enters catch basins and storm sewer pipes has been shown to carry phosphorous laden sediment as well as soluble phosphorus.  The recent construction through the Storm Lake Golf Course includes storm water ponds that are designed to capture and effectively remove the sediment borne phosphorous.  However, research shows that dissolved phosphorous constitutes approximately 45% of the total load carried by storm water runoff.  Therefore, innovative stormwater treatment practices are necessary to fully protect Storm Lake from significant, and costly, water quality problems for future generations.   

A relatively recent advancement in the removal of dissolved phosphorus from urban stormwater is Iron Enhanced Sand Filtration.  While applications of the iron filter continue to progress with continued popularity, they are typically used in overflow areas of traditional stormwater ponds.  As stormwater flows into the pond, the water surface rises into the iron filter area and trickles down through the sand.  The filtration medium contains approximately 5% iron filings by weight and is mixed into the sand medium prior to placement in the filtration area.  In between rainfall events, the iron will rust which creates an ideal condition for phosphorus to absorb.  The iron continues to break down and rust over time, creating new sites for phosphorus absorption.  The East Area Water Quality project includes an iron enhanced filtration “bench”, integrated into a sand trap area, in one of the golf course ponds that filters stormwater runoff from much of the east side of Storm Lake.  Construction of this "bench" has been completed and the iron filings will be incorporated into the bench in the upcoming week.

Weather Continues to Be Biggest Challenge

The weather continues to be the biggest challenge with snow last week and rain this week the project contractor continues to work around the weather.  Regardless progress is still strong and things continue to progress.

Before we get to far into the happens over the last few days I want to take a minute to comment on timeline for the project.  Obviously the weather is impacting the project schedule to a good degree.

The primary focus of the contractor continues to be the ponds and piping in the Sunrise Pointe Golf Course area.  We would anticipate that to continue for the next couple of weeks weather depending in an effort to get the course back to normal as soon as possible.  Another reason for this area being the priority is that before the contractor can install piping and systems near the problem area they have to be ready to move the water that is collected to the north or they will just cause further flooding problems.

We do know that the contractor is doing everything possible to get back on schedule to try and ensure a timely completion of the golf course work.  In that light they are planning to do some work on the course on Saturdays over the next couple of weeks.  This could impact play on the course and we would encourage golfers to be alert to the contractors equipment and to play accordingly during the construction.  We do apologize for the impacts and construction but hope that the long term benefits both for the residents who will see flooding relief and the golfers will be worth the minor inconvenience.

There was some marking and locating of utilities in the neighborhood around the East 4th Street portion of the project which may lead to the belief that work will be starting in that part of the project soon. Those markings are not directly associated with the project.  Alliant Energy will be relocating a gas main in the area starting later this week or next to move it out of the way of the project's underground piping.

We are working on an updated schedule which we'll update here on the blog in the upcoming days.

The contractor has finished the the rough work on the two ponds at the Golf Course and is working on the finishing work at this point.  Here are a few pictures of the finished ponds as of May 7, 2013.

Pond in front of #9 Green.

Pond in front of #1 Tee Boxes with final grading occurring.

Work also continues to progress on the shaping of the berms on either side of the #9 Fairway as shown in the photo below:

Crews moving and shaping dirt on the berms around the #9 fairway.

Also occurring this week the Street Department staff installed two project signs at key points in the project area, one at the Sunrise Pointe Golf Course and one at the entrance to the residential sub-division. These signs contain a QR Code which visitors and residents can scan with their smart phone using a QR Reader (many are available and free to download and use).  When the code is scanned on the smart phone or tablet it will automatically take the user to our project web page where they can learn more about the project and/or read this blog!  If you see the sign check it out!

Project sign with the QR Code at the Sunrise Pointe Golf Course.

Thanks to the Street Department for getting these signs installed!