Central Oregonian

Fairgrounds building venue changes again

The location of the structure has been moved to better accommodate the issues and uses of the building

RAMONA MCCALLISTER/CENTRAL OREGONIAN

The new location for the replacement building, as shown above, will be east of the main Crook County Fairgrounds road off of Main Street in the grassy area. It is the same location that the tent has been set up for the past two years for the poultry and rabbits during the fair.

Ramona McCallister

March 14, 2013

After a footprint was selected and the request for proposals went out, the final location for the replacement building at the fairgrounds has been changed.

The structure will now replace the rabbit and poultry building that was sacrificed to make room for the COCC Crook County Open Campus building. The proposals close on March 28, and the timeline for construction has been pushed forward to accommodate the change in venue.

“We had a mandatory walkthrough for anyone who wanted to bid on the actual construction of it,” said Fairgrounds Manager Casey Daly. In all, he said there were more than 12 interested parties who showed up.

While standing on the proposed site with the participants of the walk-through, Daly said there were some concerns about the change in elevation between the barn structures, which are referred to the H-barns, and the front of the site by the road. He said the change in elevation was more than 30 inches.

“The concern was that there was a lot of fill and site preparation that needed to be done to make that a viable spot,” explained Daly. He added that the cost of the site preparation was a big consideration.

The decision was made to go back to the drawing board in regards to the location of the building. The dimensions and square-footage didn’t change. The building will still be 5,000 square-feet, and the budget remains at $131,000 for the project. It will be exactly the same size as the Clover Building, which is on the east side of the Crook County OSU Extension Office.

Daly said that several sites were looked at, including one that was approximately 50 feet behind the original footprint. Another site included a location by the waterfall at the front of the entrance to the fairgrounds off of Main Street. Daly said that community input was solicited once again on the potential sites.

“Those two sites were not well-received,” he said.

Based upon the consideration of the community input, two sites were looked at west and east of the main road by the Main Street entrance in the grassy area. The deciding factors were based on the fact that the 4-H participants could be close to the other barns and 4-H groups, and they could walk across the road without traffic being a concern. The site chosen was east of the road, and that portion of the road between the site and the H-barns is blocked off during the fair to allow for safe passage between the areas. The site is also the same area where the rabbit and poultry tent has been set up for the past three summers.

“One of their major things was to keep the kids together if they could,” he noted of the 4-H groups.

The building is scheduled to be completed before the Crook County Fair this year.

The due date for bids is March 28 at 2 p.m.

Opening of sealed bids will be 2:30 p.m., on March 28.

Final contract will be awarded Thursday, April 3.

Anticipated construction is scheduled to begin on April 9

Completion of the building is scheduled for June 21.