New additions at Cottage Grove’s Bakken Park are moving forward, as the village board adopted an updated plan for athletic courts and construction continues on the new wheels park.
At their Feb. 20 meeting, trustees approved a site plan amendment for the park, authorizing it for the planned construction of a new shelter, a new parking lot, eight pickleball courts, four tennis courts, green space for up to five athletic fields and a new path that connects with the Glacial Drumlin Trail.
The new facilities are planned for the park’s eastern side, along Grove Street. The updated plan swaps out previously planned basketball courts with tennis courts.
The new shelter, a 20-by-40-foot pavilion, is meant to serve the athletic facilities and will not be available for rentals like the larger shelter near the Bakken Park splash pads, village staff said.
“I think this plan looks really good,” Trustee Chris Stoa said. “I’m super excited about it.”
The village included $1.6 million in borrowed funds for the improvements in its 2023 budgeting process, though exact costs won’t be known until the project is bid to contractors. Village engineer Josh Straka said he expects final plans to come before the board in April, where they can be approved for bidding.
Certain elements of the plans, such as the park shelter, will be bid separately to give the village more cost flexibility, Straka said.
Bidding on those improvements will coincide with work on the new $1.1 million wheels park, meant for BMX bikes, scooters, skateboards and the like. Construction on the wheels park paused at the end of November as winter weather set in, but is expected to continue in March.
