Park renovations, stormwater project eyed in Beech Bottom

BEECH BOTTOM -- Construction crews will be a common sight in Beech Bottom as renovations to the Third Street Park continue, while village officials have found additional funding will be needed for a major stormwater sewer project.

Mayor Becky Uhlly said crews with Triple H Construction of West Union, W.Va., will be pouring a new concrete surface for the park's basketball court after removing two layers of asphalt and one layer of cement that had deteriorated.

The court also will have new hoops, backboards and posts and light posts.

Uhlly said the Flatiron Corp., which is building the new Ohio River bridge not far from the village, has donated dirt to level the park's uneven ground and crews with Triple H soon will be building a new retaining wall around the playground.

Mulch around the playground equipment will be replaced with a rubbery surface produced by Adventure Turf of Kenosha, Wisc.

Uhlly said village crews will apply the material, which is poured in liquid form and hardens with time.

She said a handicap accessible swing also will be added to the playground.

The project is being funded with $83,478 secured from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund by U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; and a match in the same amount from the village.

The two senators also secured $3,480,000 through the Federal Emergency Management Agency to install a 2,500-foot stormwater line from the base of 49 Hill, across the churchyard of Beech Bottom Community Christian Church near High Street to Third Street, Alley C and the Ohio River.

Plans call for the 6-foot-wide line to replace a 95-year-old clay line carrying runoff from the hillside. Breaks along the line have caused sinkholes in various areas along its path.

The most recent occurred last fall along state Route 2 not far from the park.

To date, the village has invested about $200,000 of the FEMA funds into the project's design by Thrasher Engineering.

The lowest bid submitted for its construction, by Independent Enterprises of Oakdale, Pa., was $3,448,360, which leaves the village short about $600,000.

Uhlly said she and others are pursuing other funds through FEMA because the agency won't allow construction to begin until it's fully funded.