The city of East Ridge is moving forward with making infrastructure improvements at Camp Jordan Park and building a multi-purpose pavilion behind City Hall. To fund the two projects, approval has been given, by the council to issue general obligation bonds of the city of East Ridge in the amount not to exceed $8,000,000.
The 10,000 square foot pavilion is being designed to seat 500 people. It will have two conference rooms, a catering kitchen and garage doors around the perimeter that will allow it to be opened up when heat and air conditioning is not needed. It will also have a fireplace. The design work is in process and will be presented to the council in March with bids going out this summer. Construction is expected to take 10 months so the goal is to have it finished in mid-2025.The cost for the facility will be $6,400,000.
At Camp Jordan park, field lighting for three soccer fields will be replaced and new lighting will be installed at two fields. The Arena will get a facelift to the interior, a new roof, two compressors and updates to the restrooms. The cost for that work will be $1,500,000.
The city is already working with Invictus, to plan how to fully optimize Camp Jordan for East Ridge Citizens and using it for competitive sports on the weekends. The study being done by Invictus should be complete by Memorial Day or a little after. Now the city is seeking public input for what residents would like to see at Camp Jordan. A survey is on the website so the public can weigh in on what additional sport facilities are wanted in the park.
One of the facility improvements is already moving forward. The council accepted the bid from Eskola Roofing for $182,301 to replace the roof at Camp Jordan Arena with a “Storm Breaker Silicone roof system.” This was the lowest of four bids that were received.
And another bid was awarded to Krown USA Inc. to provide uniforms for the spring/summer sports for the 2024 season. The low bid was $22,660. These sports include baseball, softball, soccer and flag football.
East Ridge Middle School does not have a home soccer field and has requested to use one of the fields at Camp Jordan and to have the fees waived for renting it. The school wants to host at least five home games from March 5-April 30 but no definite dates have been given to the city. Parks and Recreation Director. Shawnna Skiles recommended for the council to approve the request on the condition that there any open fields once the dates are known. The city has already started renting the fields for the spring soccer season, and games will begin March 1.
Over the last year, East Ridge has received many applications to rezone property in established single-family residential districts, from R-1 to RT-1 that allows multi-family dwellings or to commercial zones. Most cities have a comprehensive land use plan which protects the integrity of each zone. East Ridge has no comprehensive plan and therefore, no mechanism to protect single-family neighborhoods. City Attorney for the council, Mark Litchford presented and the council passed a resolution that states the city desires to recognize the importance of protecting R-1 residential districts and includes a guideline of nine factors to consider in rezoning requests for multi-residential uses.
The city council awarded a bid for resurfacing certain roads in East Ridge in 2024 to Talley Construction, the lone bidder. The work was rewarded to Talley at the cost of not to exceed $1,778,000. The city hopes to negotiate the inclusion of repairs to Camp Jordan Parkway, into that cost. If that fails, Camp Jordan Parkway will be separated out for a separate bid.
The digital display sign in front of City Hall was originally installed in 2014. It has been out of commission several months now, and parts are no longer available for repairs. Thursday night, the council approved buying a new digital message center for $27,630 that will be placed into the framework of the existing digital sign.
The rain, ice and cold temperatures during January caused 21 days when the builder, J.C. Curtis was unable to work on the new animal shelter. According to the contract the city has with the builder, the builder is entitled to be given an additional nine days to complete the building due to the weather delays. The council passed a resolution that will add nine days to the contract time of 180 days to complete construction. There are no costs associated with this change order, just the time increase.