Okay given to paving 16 camping pads

By STEPH TAHTINEN

Mt. Pleasant News

The Henry County Conservation Board has approved spending almost $37,000 to pave 16 camping pads on the South Shore to prevent future flood damage.

There are currently 24 camping pads on the South Shore, Conservation Director John Pullis told the conservation board on Monday night. Of those 24 pads, there are eight that are already paved. Of the 16 that are unpaved, there were seven or eight that were completely destroyed by flooding this year.

?The logjam behind the highway bridge, well, that was diverting all the water to the north side of the river and after a certain point it converted it to the south, right through the campground,? said Pullis. ?So what?s happened down there on seven or eight of the pads, we still have railroad ties per se for the most part outlining the pads, but there is not a stitch of gravel in them. It scoured out all the gravel.?

Pullis said he talked to Bill Young ? who had previously paved the eight pads in 2008 ? and got a quote for $36,969.

?Roughly $37,000 we can pave everything, all the camping pads down there, so we don?t have this problem anymore,? said Pullis. ?We won?t have to worry about gravel being spread throughout the campground.?

Pullis noted that there is enough money in the budget to cover the paving project.

The board also approved the purchase of a 60-inch rotary broom for $4,089.69 from Precision Equipment in Houghton.

This broom will attach onto the department?s small tractor and can be used to clean all of the concrete areas in the campgrounds and around the nature center. It can also be used to move gravel and sand out of the grass.

In other flood damage, Pullis described the north shore as ?sand, sand and more sand.? He noted that the parking area by the dam was piled four feet deep with sand.

?Secondary Roads hauled the lion?s share of it away,? said Pullis. ?(County Engineer Bill) Belzer?s estimating 700 yards they hauled out of there of sand.?

In addition to those estimated 700 yards, there was also numerous loads hauled away by the utilities department and others.

Most of the logs and the wood debris behind the three spillways are cleaned up, but there is still a lot of wood up on the lower level of the dam.

?We?re going to have to repair the fence. It wadded the fence up,? said Pullis. ?On the north shore up closer to the dam on the spillway, it took the fence out, it lifted chunks of the sidewalk and moved them all over.?

Those sections of the sidewalk were moved back into place and sand was put over them so it?s not as much of a trip hazard.

?You?re not going to fall down into a hole where the missing pad is,? said Pullis.

There were also several stones lost out of the central pier on the walk bridge.

?We?ll add that to the damage and the repairs whenever we get money for that,? said Pullis.

The walk bridge has been closed to foot traffic because of its deteriorating condition. However, board member Jim Onorato commented Monday night that he had seen people on the bridge the other day.

?Last weekend I found people on the foot bridge walking,? said Onorato. ?There?s nothing up there that says ?Do not enter.? All you?ve got is a gate.?

?When the river was up again, there was people on there, too, and I told John ?We should put a sign that when the gates are closed, if you?re caught on the bridge there will be a fine,?? said Tony Millard, operations supervisor. ?That?s for their own safety. I just can?t believe people can?t understand that.?

It was noted that a fine could be established since it is a prohibited area.

In other business, it was noted that a volunteer reception will be held on June 10 at the nature center from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

This reception is for all who have given to the nature center ? whether the donation was time, materials or monetary. It does not matter if the donation was in the past year or further back.

The conservation board meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the nature center following the reception.