Village leaders eye the 10-year, $11.9M Grundahl Park Master Plan

The Village of Mount Horeb is eying a decade-long, $11.9 million, multi-phase plan that would make extensive changes to the community’s most popular park. Grundahl Park has long been home to Wednesday Night Live, the Summer Frolic, National Night Out, Relay for Life events, and much, much more. With an array of proposed projects, it could become more of a hub for even more activity, according to proponents of the plan.

Grundahl Park began several generations ago as a “thank you” to the village, and to America, from a Norwegian immigrant who came to the United States with 20 cents in his pocket in 1899. Today, it is one of Mount Horeb’s most valued gathering places. It’s exact future isn’t set in stone, but a document formulated at the village hall gives a glimpse of what it could look like.

The village’s Grundahl Park’s Master Plan includes four key phases, with work beginning this year and continuing into 2035. Some of the individual projects will certainly happen, but others might not, because each component still needs to be reviewed by the Mount Horeb Parks, Recreation and Forestry Commission (PRF) and approved by the village board as part of the annual budget process before moving forward.

The master plan was selected by the PRF last year after reviewing several visions.

“Basically, we brought in some consultants to tell us about the opportunities, needs, potential weaknesses there,” said Brett Halverson, village trustee and chair of the PRF. “To tell us some things the community wants and needs there in the future.”

In the short term, the village will upgrade the park’s playground and ball fields, among other things. Other, more ambitious work will be considered later on.

“I think it’s good to look at [the Master Plan] as more of a general outline than a blueprint,” Halverson explained. “We’re moving forward with the short-term stuff now, and in the future we can see if it works to move forward with some of the other things.”

Village president Ryan Czyzewski said the master plan provides “enhanced facilities for existing uses … with the capability to add more uses.” Czyzewski said that he, too, expects the village to pursue changes at Grundahl at a measured pace, particularly because Mount Horeb is also moving forward with other major projects, including on the other side of town.

“With so many needs and opportunities, and the need to develop the Lukken parkland, it’s designed to be a phased approach to spread out the cost and adjust if needed,” Czyzewski said. “The commission has already started with approving some of the Phase 1 improvements at Grundahl Park and working on others to determine for [the] next budget(s).”

According to Czyzewski, new lights for the baseball diamond are being ordered, the final design for new playground equipment is being honed at the next meeting with a representative from Gerber Leisure Products answering questions, and PRF “is discussing storage options with the Summer Frolic Committee, with potential to expand an existing shelter or usage.”

“It’s a priority of the commission to continue to work on the Grundahl improvements in conjunction with other park improvements,” Czyzewski said.

If fully approved, phase one costs around $929,000 and includes improvements to existing concessions, benches, trash cans, lighting, earthwork and more.

Phase two would cost an estimated $1.3 million and include more lighting, path work, bike racks, a drinking fountain, improvements to the baseball field and more.

Phase three would include similar enhancements, plus a new restroom, kitchen and shelter facility. It would cost an estimated $1.3 million.

The fourth and final phase would cost roughly $6 million in today’s money, or close to $8 million with inflation factored in. It would include native grass seeding, a $4.5 million, 20,000-square-foot multi-use event building, and more.

Totaling 13 acres, Grundahl Park is located on the southwest side of the village on Blue Mound Road. According to the Mount Horeb Area Historical Society, it was formerly the site of the village’s sewage treatment plant.

In the late 1950s, Henry Grundahl gave five acres of land to the village on which to build a playground in the future. After the sewage plant was moved in 1978, the first phase of work on Grundahl Park was completed in 1981 with a ball field and hockey rink. In 1985, the village built a shelter on the site. Improvements to the park since then have been largely the result of work by the Summer Frolic Committee.

Halverson said the development of public parkland at the Lukken property could impact changes at Grundahl Park, and vice versa, as village leaders attempt to strike a balance with their long-term goals across the village. “They’re interconnected,” he said.