Richfield has delayed some scheduled improvements to the Richfield Ice Arena to do more investigation about exactly what's in the soil around the building.
The city plans to invest about $2 million in the arena to capitalize on the presence of the Minnesota Magicians, a minor league hockey team that is using the arena as its home base. The city is adding a locker room for the team, but when ground was broken for the $565,000 project at the rear of the arena, workers discovered some surprises underground.
As in an old mattress, a box spring and other debris.
With a planned arena expansion that includes new classrooms, a larger lobby, a training facility and a bigger parking lot, City Manager Steve Devich said it seemed wise to do a closer examination of the soil around the building.
He said the city believes that when Crosstown Hwy. 62 was constructed, "stuff was dumped" in what is now Veterans Park, where the arena is located, at 636 E. 66th St.
"It made us think that maybe we need to take a good hard look at any other soil issues we're facing," he said. "I like to measure twice and cut once. This is the most money we've put into the arena since it was built, even more than adding the second [ice] sheet."
Devich said the work could delay construction for a few months, but that the city is committed to the expansion project. The debris and unstable soil found when construction began on the locker room meant dirt had to be removed and replaced. Devich said the locker room budget will cover the remediation cost.
Because the delay means the city is breaking the arena expansion project into two pieces, it will cover the locker room construction costs with internal transfers, then sell bonds to cover the cost of the entire project and pay itself back for the building of the locker room.