The Fishing Boardwalk has been somewhat a work in
progress. We installed it in a way that
was hoped would work only to find unsuitable soils and too shallow of an area
near the boardwalk to fish. The channel was
established by excavating what was a swamp with the soils being largely
peat. The peat was about 22 feet deep
making it difficult to establish poles for a foundation. After looking at a number of different
approaches we settled on a floating pier and excavated the immediate area to
assure there was adequate depth to allow for the floats. This has worked well.
The use of the fishing boardwalk has increased and with the season
of changing sunsets a request was made to get some lighting at the
boardwalk. The city doesn’t have street
lights so the question needed some research.
We worked with Crow Wing Power to review the site and they stated the
power pole we were thinking about did not have a transformer to support a
light. They also felt the pole we were
thinking about was probably too far away to do what we wanted it to do. They suggested we install a new pole closer
to the structure.
We had a few options regarding the type of light. A smaller security light could be installed or
a larger light they call an Intersection light.
They have a couple of options for lights, LED or Sodium Vapor. The council considered the question and
determined that a new pole should be installed to better serve the site. They wanted an LED light but it is unknown
when the power company would get the LED Intersection lights. These are
new and they haven’t received any yet.
A new power pole will be installed along with a transformer. It is hoped that the LED Intersection light can
be installed however a light of some type will be installed in the near future.
