MORGANTOWN — Making the snow that speeds winter revelers to the bottom of the Chestnut Ridge sledding hill is easy.
Getting them back to the top has proven significantly more complicated than expected.
The Monongalia County Commission recently approved a contract not to exceed $24,800 with local engineering firm Tetra Tech to explain what needs to happen in order to use the county’s tow lift system.
In 2019, the commission used funds from the parks, trails and recreation levy to purchase a three-phase generator and snow-making attachment from HKD Snowmakers ($122,120) and 300-foot Sunkid tubing tow lift ($48,350).
While the snowmaker has seen use, the tow lift system has never been installed due to apparent geometry issues that may require at least portions of the hill to be reshaped, meaning additional spending is likely.
The sledding hill and snow machine will be in action this winter, but the commission said the tow system won’t be ready until winter 2022.
When complete, the hill will feature large “bumpers” to help keep tubers on track.
“Not to say it’s going to be exactly like this, but if you’ve ever seen the tubing park at Snowshoe, we’re loosely modeling it after that,” Commissioner Jeff Arnett said.
In other park news, the push to get swimmers in the newly renovated Camp Muffly pool this year has taken on water.
County Administrator Rennetta McClure said completion of the pool is still several weeks away and the county’s construction crew is still working on a new pool house.
The commission approved a $497,440 contract with Pittsburgh-based Aqua Pool in January to overhaul the 68-year-old pool.
Much like the sledding hill, funding for the project is coming from the county’s portion of the recreation levy first passed in 2016 and renewed in 2020.
The commission recently approved an additional $36,289 for the project to cover the cost of an extra 645 square feet of gray concrete deck ($10,836) and the installation of the Mighty Mesh Safety Cover ($15,850) among other things.
In June, Arnett said that while the project had hit a permitting snag — which has since been resolved — the commission was hopeful the work would be completed in time to get swimmers in the water this summer.
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