OSKALOOSA — If you’ve passed Caldwell Park in recent weeks, you may have noticed a change in scenery. The barn which used to sit inside the 60-acre park has come down, but not without good reason.
“We removed the barn, but we are saving the materials to make shelters in other areas and to create a display in the new Environmental Learning Center regarding it’s long history,” said Mahaska County Conservation (MCCB) Board Director Dave Sedivec. The county’s educational project, which will also house the prized mammoth bones, will be built where the barn previously stood.
Sedivec explained that a few public meetings were held regarding the future of the barn, which could not receive funding for being classified as a historical site because it was moved when Highway 92 was being constructed.
“The building was going to be further south, but in the flood of 2010 water came into where the basement would have been, so it has to be moved,” said Sedivec explaining why the location was chosen.
“Moving it into this location actually decreased a lot of the site work costs associated with the project, which was great for us.”
In 2008, MCCB developed the initial plans for the learning center, which included a $3 million price tag. In recent years the group has been fundraising in order to reduce the monetary support needed from the county.
“When we came back to Mahaska County Board of Supervisors seven years later, we did a re-estimate and it came back at $3.8 million and they asked us to try and get back to that $3 million cost, so we shrunk down the size of the building,” said Sedivec. “By tearing down the barn and moving the building forward into that spot, we got that [total back down.]”
The Environmental Learning Center will be an attraction for the both city and county, according to supporters. In addition to the prehistoric mammoth bones, the building will house an aquarium fish display, a wetland where “kids can get muddy” before heading back inside to learn. The building will also include plenty of storage space, a meeting room in the basement and Sedivec says maybe even backup IT servers for the county.
“Right now a lot hinges on the Local Option Sales Tax,” he said. “The only thing that’s finalized is the basic size and shape of the building and where it is going to be placed.”
If the tax passes this spring, Sedivic says groundbreaking on the site could begin anywhere from 18 to 24 months from now.
“There is a lot going on over there,” said Sedivic. “We now have a recreation trail going through the property and the Freedom Rock on display. There
have been a lot of people working to get all these things done, so it’s a pretty exciting time for Caldwell Park.”
Story provided by Danielle Lunsford
