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Sledding hill gives way to geothermal system
Published Friday, February 8, 2008
Photo by Zak Holtan
The Cleveland Elementary sledding hill is off-limits for at least the next month as workers drill wells for the school’s geothermal heating system.
R.A. Morton Construction Manager Michael Beach says he’s already received complaints about the roughshod state of the Cleveland Elementary hill.
“I had a couple of kids corner me about it yesterday,” Beach said Thursday. “They said, ‘You’re taking away our sledding hill,’ and I said, ‘You’re right.’”
That’s because the hill will soon be home to 80 180-foot wells, part of the school’s new geothermal heating system. The system, said ATS&R Sr. Mechanical Designer Mike Brown, relies on the principles of refrigeration to transfer heating or cooling out of the ground, depending on the season.
Work on the hill began Monday, with a chance construction staff would start drilling the first well Thursday. The wells will take about a month to complete, Beach said, though sledders can expect to see the hill back to normal when the project is done.
“When we’ve finished the area we’ll have it seeded and sodded and you won’t even know we’ve been there,” he said.
At the same time drilling begins, work continues on the other side of the Cleveland property.
“We are preparing to do the west wall masonry of the gymnasium and we’re completing the backfill across the entire site,” Beach said of work this week.
During recess, Cleveland students still have access to some playground equipment and a flat area near the ice skating rink.
Meanwhile, architects from ATS&R are putting the finishing touches on the Fergus Falls Middle School design. Since meeting with district administrators in mid-January, architects have been considering details like color schemes and flooring types, said Fergus Falls Business Manager Mark Masten.
Masten said he couldn’t say for sure when the design would be finalized.
“I know they’re working on it as hard as they can,” he said.
Though the opening of construction bids was originally scheduled for February, a delay would have little effect on the start of construction, as workers will not be breaking ground until school is out. In the next week, R.A. Morton, ATS&R and the school district will release a schedule of important dates related to the middle school project.
“It will be a master timeline that describes how we get from where we are now to an actual groundbreaking,” Beach said.
Comments
The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by Newshound (anonymous) on February 8, 2008 at 7:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think the people of Fergus Falls should be proud of the fact they are utilizing cutting edge technology in their school's heating system. The technology has been known for some time but people have been slow to embrace it.
Now if we can just do what we can to stomp out the ethanol nonsense......
Posted by FungusAmugus (anonymous) on February 8, 2008 at 8:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Newshound if you want to do that Drive More! burn as much Gasoline as you can! our country relies on it! We cannot afford to have the Oil companies loose any profits, if they do we are doomed!
Posted by klingetb (anonymous) on February 9, 2008 at 11:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Oil companies lose any business??? You mean you wouldn't want the Iraqi's to lose any money.
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