Kelly Kenoyer
The Sankey Park bandstand is on its last legs, and will have to be taken down and replaced, according to a report presented to the City Council at its Aug. 11 meeting.
The structure was built in the late 1930s or early 1940s as a New Deal project.
A tree fell on the structure in 2018, which prompted the city to take a look at the structure of the bandstand. Stability Engineering, Inc. performed a structural review of the bandstand in 2019 and found serious problems with dry rot, a cracked foundation, and shifted braces. A tree’s roots had grown underneath the structure, compromising its stability.
The Park and Tree Committee concluded that the structure will need to be replaced by a new structure that incorporates architectural elements and/or materials from the original, which will likely cost around $150,000.
Community and Economic Development Director Blair Larsen said the insurance payout from the tree falling will only cover $4,800 in damage.
“I know there are some strong feelings in the community since it’s rather an old and important landmark,” he said. “The question before us is whether to seek to repair the existing structure or to reconstruct it.”
Councilors Diane Gerson, Greg Mahler, Susan Coleman, Lisa Gourley, Dave Trask, and Cortney Nash were in attendance at the Aug. 11 meeting, with Councilor James Goble absent.
Trask said the structure isn’t worth pouring any money into as it is now, but suggested the community of Sweet Home could “come together to build something like that.”
He said the structure in the park now has “really got to go. It’s going to fall down.”
Mahler agreed that the local community will likely “come together to rebuild it,” and said it’s the consensus of the council that replacing the bandstand is a better idea than trying to repair the old one.
Gourley noted that there were originally some thoughts of setting up an amphitheater for audiences around the bandstand. Larsen responded that “there’s a lot of reason to consider another location.”
He said topographical elements in the park would make it easy to set up an amphitheater if the bandstand is built “closer to where the old playground is.”
“There’s a rough location that will work with the paths and where the lights are,” Larsen said.
There will likely need to be a more formal vote to actually take the structure down, he added, but that hasn’t been funded yet.
On the topic of other improvements, Public Works Operations Manager Dominic Valloni, said the new play structure at Sankey Park is waiting on concrete edging before it will be accessible to the public, and the contractor won’t be available for 15 to 16 weeks. Concrete will also be poured to create paths around the park, and all that work needs to be done at the same time to limit costs.
Larsen said all concrete contractors are “very far out” right now because there’s a lot of concrete work being done in the area.
Briese Custom Concrete is handling the concrete, while Norm’s Electric is doing the lighting and PAVECO is doing the asphalt paving, Larsen said.
“It all kind of is wrapped up in those paths,” he added.