Pavilion No. 1 is blocked off by a fence at Nelson Park in Decatur on Thursday. The Decatur Park District said the structure has been deemed unsafe and access has been restricted.
DECATUR — Nelson Park Pavilion No. 1 has become dangerously deteriorated.
“For the last couple of years, we’ve been monitoring the pavilion,” said Decatur Park District Executive Director Clay Gerhard. “We started to notice, a couple of years ago, some areas where the slate tiles on the roof were coming loose. We did an engineering study along with a set of bids about a year ago to address this.”
“G,” a 39-year-old alligator from Scovill Zoo, recently had an opportunity to take a field trip to Splash Cove and swim in its lazy river. Video courtesy of Vieweg Real Estate and the Decatur Park District.
The pavilion was built in the 1930s using construction methods that would never be used today, he said, with the steel supports encased in concrete. When it was first built, nails could be driven into that concrete to hold the slate tiles on the roof. The park district sought bids in 2021 to remove and replace the roof with a traditional roof. The bids were $1.7 million just to remove what’s there, he said, so by the time it was replaced, the total project would cost north of $2 million.
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The deteriorated state of the slate tiles on the roof and the roof structure itself has caused the Decatur Park District to erect a fence around Pavilion 1 in Nelson Park while officials consider options. Replacing the roof would cost $2 million.
Valerie Wells
The park district can’t afford that, he said, so some hard decisions have to be made.
“Once you start taking that (roof) off, you’re going to find things you didn’t know were there,” he said. “The plans then were not as detailed as today’s architectural plans.”
The pavilion has an open area and an enclosed one that includes a second-floor apartment once used by park district personnel. For now, the pavilion is enclosed by a fence to keep people out because, Gerhard said, there’s a risk that falling slate roofing or even a collapse of the roof, which shows numerous cracks around steel supports, could injure someone. The contractor the park district consulted would use robotic equipment to drop the existing roof due to the danger, but that would destroy the floor and it, too, would have to be replaced.
Cracks are visible around the steel supports inside Nelson Pavilion 1.
Valerie Wells
On Wednesday morning, a park supervisor brought Gerhard a large piece of slate roofing that had fallen off, big enough to injure someone, and that prompted the fence being erected around the pavilion.
A park district employee found this piece of slate roofing that had fallen off on Wednesday and showed it to Executive Director Clay Gerhard, who ordered a fence to be put up around Nelson Park Pavilion 1 to keep people out.
Valerie Wells
“We’ve had a combination of, with COVID, the large scale events have dwindled,” Gerhard said. “The pavilion hasn’t been used that much. But we don’t have $2 million. We’ve looked for grant opportunities. Rodney Davis tried to help us before he left office. We couldn’t get a grant. There’s not a lot of historic preservation grants out there. Folks want to build new. We are wrestling with what to do and in the meantime, we have shut down the pavilion while we continue to evaluate our options.”
He informed the park board of the situation at the meeting on Wednesday, where the board approved a $1.2 million solar panel system for the Decatur Indoor Sports Center. The good news is that rebates and incentives mean that system will only cost the park district $115,000, with Millikin University paying $115,000, for a total of $230,000 that will save the park district about $80,000 annually in power bills.
PHOTOS: Take a tour of the new Devon G. Buffett Lakeshore Amphitheater
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW A lighting truss is raised during preparations at The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater Thursday.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW Seasonal manager Tim Reimer spreads mulch in landscaping at the entrance of The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater Thursday.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW Reserved seating is pictured in The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW The stage is pictured at The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW The green room is pictured in The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW The concession stand is pictured at The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW The concession stand is pictured at The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW The stage is pictured at The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW An open stage panel reveals a view of Lake Decatur behind The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW The view from the stage is pictured in The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW Multiple levels are pictured in The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW Decatur Blue Print Employees setup advertisements at The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW Decatur Blue Print Employees setup advertisements at The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW One of several VIP areas is pictured in The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW The entrance is pictured in The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater
JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW A lighting truss is raised during preparations at The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater Thursday.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW Amphitheater manager Mike Wilcott shows his favorite view of The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.
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JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW Brett Stock prepares to post a banner in The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater Thursday.
Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter
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