Bismarck Tribune - Bismarck News - Indoor archery range becomes reality

Indoor archery range becomes reality

Jul 18, 2008 - 04:06:03 CDT

By JONATHAN RIVOLI
Bismarck Tribune

The Bismarck Park Board and NISHU Bowmen club are preparing to open a new indoor archery range that has been in the works for 10 years.

NISHU Bowmen President Steve Arnold told Bismarck Park District Board members on Thursday night that they plan on dedicating the building July 25. Arnold said he hopes to have the facility open to the public by sometime in August.

Built on the site of an existing outdoor archery range at Fox Island, the project got under way last summer. It cost about $500,000, with the Park District footing about half the bill, said Park District Director Steve Neu.

Neu said the Park District owns the new building and was responsible for installing infrastructure such as parking lots and outdoor lighting. The NISHU Bowmen will lease the facility from the Park District and will be responsible for administering the programs.

Arnold said the facility will give the club much more room than the space it currently uses in the World War Memorial Building downtown. He said the club first began to dream up the idea in 1998, and began soliciting donations and investing in bank CDs in 2001 to pay for it.

"It shows that, in partnering with the park district, we were able to accomplish something that we would not have been able to on our own," Arnold said.

One aspect of the partnership concerned board member Mike O'Brien at Thursday night's meeting. O'Brien said he worried that the arrangement gave the park district too little control over the costs and fees associated with offerings such as public archery shooting or youth classes.

He said he wanted "safeguards" to ensure that "it doesn't become too expensive for the public to shoot down there."

Arnold said it would be counter to the club's interest to charge fees that discourage access. Park Board President Paul Quist said the district could opt out of the agreement if it felt these concerns were not adequately being addressed.

Trail project delayed

A walking and biking trail project from South Washington Street to Cottonwood Park will be delayed.

The delay comes after the Park District Board decided Thursday to "re-engineer" the project after bids on it came in around $55,000 higher than expected.

"That's just too far over estimate," Neu said.

Neu said the district would be looking changing the project to try to get it more in line. Ideas include using concrete instead of asphalt to pave the trail and changing the irrigation system to try to bring its cost down.

(Reach reporter Jonathan Rivoli at 250-8264 or jonathan.rivoli@bismarcktribune.com.)

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Comments

Jason wrote on Jul 19, 2008 3:51 AM:

" I was down on the bike trail last week and saw this new building. It was a bit of a surprise. I'm all for the shooting sports, but $500,000 seems like an awful lot of money for just shooting arrows. Why couldn't they have made it into a true indoor shooting range for that much? There is a new indoor shooting range being built on the south side of town. It was supposed to be open in Mid-June according to the Tribune, but it does not look open to me last time I drove by a few days ago. "

NDHunter wrote on Jul 18, 2008 3:47 PM:

" Should the Park Board help fund a group with such a sexist name? I can't believe there's no public outrage. "

Tom wrote on Jul 18, 2008 2:16 PM:

" IT already is a good ol boys club and it will be hard for any of the normal residence to take there kids there to practice.. it will always be tied up with one thing or another.. like both indoor skating arenas and the new pool project.... How about the "PARK BOARD" Building a "PARK" on the north side of town... I always thought that was what the PARKBOARD was supposed to do was build and take care of Public Parks.. Seems all they do these days is cater to special interest groups that happen to know somebody.... "

stevjule wrote on Jul 18, 2008 11:12 AM:

" Good for O'Brian, keeping his eye on the ball. Many times these things become good old boys clubs with little opportunity for the novice. "

Park Watcher wrote on Jul 18, 2008 10:49 AM:

" During his campaign, O'Brien said he was a "Big Fan" of fees being used to support park operations. Are we going to see him go back on this and other promises as well? "

Mama B wrote on Jul 18, 2008 7:54 AM:

" What does 'NISHU' stand for ??? I thought it was just 'Nishu', an Indian name. "

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