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Bid Awarded For Sherwood Forest Park Project

June 27, 2023 Steve Schwaller

(Okoboji)– The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors today (Tues.) awarded a bid of a little more than $11.3 million for the construction of Sherwood Park Forest at the site of the former Inn Golf Course in Okoboji. The land was gifted to the County Conservation Board. The lone bid from Steffes Construction came in over the estimated cost of slightly more than $10 million. The supervisors awarded the bid following a public hearing.

They also formally accepted $3.5 million in funding that was awarded for the project through a grant from the Destination Iowa Outdoor Recreation Grant Program. The remainder of the project is being financed through a major contribution, including a 25 year endowment for future maintenance.

Lee Sorenson, Director of the Dickinson County Conservation Board, said the park will include 10 different components…

“Number one is the parking and access area, which is just off of Lakeshore Drive. The entry plaza that’s right after the parking. There is a restroom, a six stall restroom. On number three, right by the restroom we’ve put a nature playscape, so it’s going to be kind of a nature area that’s made out of natural, wood materials. We have lawns and clearings for people to picnic or frisbee or just playing with the kids. The gardens and promenades will have several plantings with trees and native plants. Several view points that overlook wetlands, the prairie, other essential natural areas. The prairie meadows will be planted to native prairie. That will be done by our staff and we’ll have about three years for that to come in because we’re planting seed instead of plugs. And then number ten is the bike park which is kind of a bike experience where it has three different kind of levels of bike experience. You go from beginning to intermediate to kind of a higher level.”

Sorenson says there will also be about two miles of walking and biking trails through the park, along with eight acres of remnant prairie. He says the original completion date of April 1st, 2024 has been pushed back a bit…

“We did move that deadline back just after our pre-construction meeting. We were concerned about some plantings that would be too early in the spring. They might die off before they got a good start, so.”

Sorenson added the final plans do include provisions addressing concerns from neighbors that were expressed early on in the designing process.

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