The Bismarck Park Board accepted recognition for a national softball tournament Thursday, and began its first steps in a three-year plan to renovate the Lions Hillside Park.

Mike Wolf, representing a committee for the Class D National Northern Softball Tournament, presented the James Farrell Excellence Award to the park board.

The honor is given to those host cities that achieve higher than a 90 percent rating on their tournaments. Bismarck hosted the national tournament over the Labor Day weekend. Sixty-one teams participated.

"We have received the award for all eight years that Bismarck has hosted, but this was the first year that we received a 100 percent rating of our tournament," Wolf said.

He added only a half-dozen cities received the 100 percent rating.

Park Board President Paul Quist credited the hard work of the park district employees for making the honor happen.

In a separate matter, the board awarded the Phase I demolition bid for removal of old roadway and trees for the Lions Hillside Park. This is the beginning of $2.5 million in improvements to the park.

Weisz and Sons of Bismarck had the lowest estimate with a bid of $67,550, well below the engineer's projections of $100,000.

Some board members were skeptical of the gap in estimates, asking if the bid proposed was complete. Parks and Recreation Director Steve Neu assured them it was.

Neu said the whole scope of the project will take between three and five years to complete.

"It's a parking lot. It's roadways, new entrances, new exits throughout the park,"he said after the meeting. "New picnic areas, new playgrounds, new bathrooms and a new (frisbee) disc golf course with 18 holes."

Neu added that long-term renovations to Hillside Pool were being eyed.

Phase I will consist of tree removal. "We need take out the old roadways, the old parking lot, removal of the old playground equipment," Neu said. "Then, (in Phase II) we're getting ready to come in with the new roads and parking lots next summer, planting of new trees, irrigating the park, and it's going to a new trail system."

After that, Neu said work could start on shelters and playgrounds.

Phase III will consist of new bathrooms, more playgrounds, updating the tennis courts and updating lights.

"We hope to have a community center like we do at Sertoma Park," Neu said.

City Commissioner Mike Seminary notified the park board that the city was planning to host a sustainability summit forum sometime in February.

Seminary said this was to assure the city was participating in sustainable activities.

"We're really dusting off the city of Bismarck Growth Management Plan that was established in 2003," Seminary said. He said the county commissioners and school board also have been invited.

Seminary said the sequence of meetings would be open to the public and televised on Dakota Media Access Channel 2.

Park Board members agreed they would be represented at the forum.

(Reach reporter LeAnn Eckroth at 250-8264 or leann.eckroth@bismarcktribune.com.)