Two WC projects will be closer to completion
Two Washington County projects will receive about $800,000 through the Ohio State Controlling Board.
Funding for the initiative was included in the state construction budget supported by Rep. Don Jones, R-Freeport, and Rep. Jay Edwards, R-Nelsonville.
Some $200,000 was approved for work at the Boys and Girls Club of Washington County to help finish its new gymnasium.
According to the controlling board, the gym will include a basketball court, indoor soccer, volleyball, and kickball markings and adjacent to the gymnasium, there will be seating, locker rooms/restrooms, kitchen/concession stand, and small spaces for classes such as yoga and Zumba.
Becca Johnson, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club, said the $200,000 was earmarked in the prior budget cycle, but the funds were just released “so we can start getting reimbursed.”
“Our project is probably 90 percent done,” Johnson said. “We’re getting the gym floor poured this week. The basketball hoops are up. We’re hoping to have a grand opening at the beginning of November.”
Parts of the project that are left are the gym floor, finishes in the restrooms, doors and the Planet Fitness room.
Planet Fitness has a partnership with Boys and Girls Clubs of America. They have installed mini-Planet Fitness facilities at clubs across the country to “help foster lifelong fitness,” Johnson said.
She said it will be branded like Planet Fitness, and the local gym will donate the materials, work and equipment to complete the room.
“It’s a huge investment by Planet Fitness to do this,” she said.
A press release was sent out this week by Jones and Edwards.
“This is an important project that will help the Boys and Girls Club serve more youth in the area,” said Jones. “It’s going to make a difference.”
Edwards added the club does a nice job of helping young people in the community.
The second project the board approved was a $600,000 contract proposal with The Ruhlin Company. They are to “provide services for the emergency stabilization of the Muskingum River Parkway Beverly Lock structure located in Beverly,” the press release noted.
“The lock is one of 10 hand-operated locks on the Muskingum River comprising the Muskingum River Parkway, originally built in 1841 for river steamboat traffic and is associated with a class II dam,” according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. “Today, the lock is primarily used for recreational boating traffic, and occasionally for some commercial traffic. Loss of the lock would negatively impact river navigation north and south of Beverly.”
The release noted that according to information filed with the State Controlling Board, the ODNR has been working to stabilize and rehabilitate the site since responding last fall to a developing sinkhole and visible misalignment of the upstream lock gate.