The new $4.

Wednesday, October 06, 1999

The new $4.1 million multipurpose building will be built – ah, ah, not so fast.

Before deciding where it goes on the fairgrounds in southwest Austin, the Mower County Board of Commissioners wants to take a look at the livestock buildings.

They will do that, beginning at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, when they conduct an inspection of the condition of the livestock buildings. Then, the board will convene at the government center in downtown Austin and, maybe, make a decision on the building’s location.

Larry Larson, rural Sargeant and chair of the Mower County Long-Range Steering Committee on Infrastructure, reported the findings of committee members to the county board at Tuesday’s meeting.

Larson said the preferred choice of the committee members is east of the Plager Building.

The committee’s second choice is the area recommended by the Mower County Extension Service committee and that is mid-way between the 4-H building, Liebenstein Hall, and the Plager Building.

According to Larson, while the east-of-the-Plager-Building site scored the most points (8) in an informal poll of the five committee members who reviewed nine different site options, the north-of-the-Plager-Building site could "easily have been the top choice, too." As it is, the committee awarded six points to the site.

Two other recommended locations are essentially in the south-central portion of the fairgrounds and near where an old sanitary landfill was once located, making the soil vulnerable and drainage a risk.

Larson said the new building could be "really important to the entire community," but he added, "The fairgrounds is quite successful as it is and we want to keep that success coming."

He said the committee members struggled through two regular meetings and one special session only a week ago before reaching a consensus.

"It can make a lot of difference where this building sets on the fairgrounds," said Larson.

Both of the recommended choices of the committee call for a new main entrance off 12th St. SW south of 4th Ave. and north of the current main pedestrian entrance that leads visitors through the Mower County Historical Center.

While the grandstands remains under both recommendations, "I think the days are numbered," observed Dan Vermilyea, an Extension Service Committee member, who has been spokesperson for the committee in making its own preference known.

Vermilyea said the current main entrance off 4th Ave. SW could be closed to vehicular traffic and made a pedestrians-only entrance/exit.

Gregg W. Johnson and Gregg H. Johnson, father and son founders of the A&W Restaurant in Austin, were among the audience members.

The duo has a Root Beer stand on the fairgrounds that the preferred choice of the committee members would cause to be moved.

The senior Johnson’s only comments were to caution the county board members that the new multipurpose building’s 250-by-250-feet could become an obstacle for people who wouldn’t want to walk around or through it to get to Crane Pavilion or the livestock buildings on the west side.

The senior Johnson also inquired of Larson if the grandstands is in the future plans at the fairgrounds. Larson said it wouldn’t be razed immediately and that prompted a discussion of leaving enough space north of the grandstands to accommodate infield events.

The proposed new main entrance off 12th St. S.W. could curb events in front of the grandstands if it is note routed far enough to the north, according to Dave Hillier, 3rd District Mower County Commissioner.

The commissioners listened to Larson’s presentation and asked their questions.

Larson also relayed infrastructure committee member Bob Radloff’s personal wishes that the new building be located at the Austin Development Park (formerly the Cook farm site). There was no discussion of the proposal.

Radloff cast the only dissenting vote, when the five members of the committee voted (4-1) to make the recommendations to the county board. Radloff, a former long-time Mower County Fair Board member, was not present at Tuesday’s meeting.

Len Miller, 4th District Mower County Commissioner, praised Larson’s and the committee’s work on studying the fairgrounds.

Properly siting the new multipurpose building is important to the county board’s future plans for the fairgrounds as well as accommodating the needs of Austin Youth Hockey and the Riverside Figure Skating Club, as well as Austin High School’s coed varsity hockey programs with two sheets of ice.

Denise Mudra, Fair Board administrative office manager, cautioned the county commissioners to consider hiring staff to promote and manage the facility before building it in order to ensure there are clients when it is open for use.

Ray Tucker, 2nd District Mower County Commissioner, inquired if the $4.1 million funding package is in place.

Craig Oscarson, county coordinator, said it was not, but that the county board’s building committee plans to meet with the finance committee of the Austin City Council soon.

Hillier, chair of the building committee, said, "The funding must be in place before materials are ordered."

Tucker also wanted to know when soil borings would be taken to ensure the site chosen is, indeed, viable to construct the 66,000 square foot building.

"That has to be done to get some viable costs for construction," Richard P. Cummings, 1st District Mower County Commissioner, said.

"The site we select may not be geologically sound. That’s why the soil exploration is so important," Tucker said.

"If that’s true, we may have to choose an alternate site," responded Cummings.