Golf Course Work Wrapped Up (For Now) Crews Start Moving North

Work on the Golf Course is complete for now.  The seeding company was directed to come in and seed the bare areas with a rye seed which will grow in the now warmer temp days of mid summer and to cover the areas with hay to prevent further erosion while the grass grows.  That cover crop, as it is commonly referred to, is starting to come up and will hold the area until this fall when we expect the seeding sub-contractor to return to put down the blue grass mix that was original specified in the contract and which will be the final grass on the course.

South Golf Course Pond After Seeding Activity

The tall grasses and native plants that will line the ponds will be planted as plugs but will be done in the fall once the ground temperature and weather are conducive to their growth.  There are also a few trees that were planned as part of the project that will be planted in the fall when the seeding contractor returns.

The contractor also finished up the waterway between the golf course ponds and the lower ponds in front of the now vacant condo site.  After an onsite review of the waterway we made the decision to add a couple rock check damns to help protect run off from occurring in major rain events.

Waterway to Condo Ponds Looking South with Rock Checks

As of this morning we were already seeing good grass growth on the newly seeded areas (a benefit of the choice to go with rye seed) and a good start to the growth of the blue grass on the berms (blue grass takes longer to mature).

Looking North at Golf Course Ponds With Grass Growth

Work continues to progress on the digging of the two southern most ponds.  These ponds, located in front of the now vacant condo project, will always be filled with water at the same level as the lake which makes the construction of them difficult to say the least.

Lundell Construction also has a crew working on installation of the pipe going north from HWY 7.  This pipe will connect the water from the pond north of the railroad tracks to the ponds at the golf course.

Pipe Crew Lowering Pipe into the Ditch

While this work is occurring the northern most pond at the golf course is being pumped to keep the water levels low to make installation of the pipe upstream easier.  Once the pipe work is done the pumping will cease.

Moving forward work will continue on the ponds south of the golf course and the pipe work going north.  The contractor expects the pipe work to take another two weeks to complete pending weather.  Work will then most likely move north of the railroad tracks and progress north from there.  Work in and around the subdivision of Rose, Tulip, and Violet Lanes is still planned toward the end of the project and at this point is several weeks out.

Rain Gives Way Finally ? Project Schedule Update

It's been awhile since the last blog post but the weather hasn't been the best for seeing major gains on construction work the last week or so - we are hoping the weather is looking up for the upcoming week or so to get the golf course work finished up.

Lundell and their sub-contractors are working on the finishing touches at the golf course.  The sub-contractor for the concrete work has been working on pouring the concrete for the golf cart paths late last week and early this week.

Crews pour the southern most cart path.

Crews poured the southern most cart path by hand on Tuesday, June 11th as the ground was too wet to get trucks in which would have caused more damage to the course.

The main path between the #1 hole and the #9 hole was placed last week and is shown below.

The main cart path between holes 1 and 9.

While the concrete contractor was busy with the cart paths the prime contractor, Lundell Construction has been working on the other ponds starting this week with the excavation of the ponds to the south of the condo property.  They have found a high water table in this area which is to be expected as the area is old dredge fill and these ponds will be wet ponds and maintain water at the level of the lake most of the time.

Excavation begins on the southern most ponds of the project.

Moving forward the contractor is three (3) weeks behind schedule primarily due to the weather and wet conditions.  Thus the contractor is hoping to start work on stages 4 & 5 which includes pipe work between HWY 7 and the Railroad tracks on June 24th.  The far northern portions of the project, those around Rose, Tulip, and Violet Lane, appear to be scheduled for starting around mid to late July 2013.

Finally, yesterday we had the great privilege of presenting all the great projects that are going on in Storm Lake, including the East Central and North Central Storm Water Projects to the Director and Deputy Director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.  These projects while providing much needed relief to residents and property owners who experience flooding conditions are also critical to the preservation of Lake Storm Lake by implementing innovative storm water practices to help clean and filter storm water before out letting the water into Storm Lake.

City Manager Jim Patrick presents City projects to Director Gipp and  Deputy Director Trautman.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources and State of Iowa continue to be key partners in the restoration and preservation of Lake Storm Lake with the City of Storm Lake, City of Lakeside, Buena Vista County, and private citizens something that we are very grateful for.  Opportunities like yesterday's are a good way to highlight the ways are partnerships are strong and how the citizens of this community are committed to the long term preservation of the natural resources we enjoy.