Cold Snap Stops Well Line Project

We ran out of season, which was expected.”

Public Works Director Ryan Stempski

The flurry of construction across the city during the fall from the well lines along Seventh Street and North Frontage Road to the leveling of 1290 North Frontage Road for the central water treatment plant have been met with snow and frozen ground, slowing or outright stopping the projects for the season.

Central Water Treatment Plant

Despite the frozen ground, work on what will be the first of Hastings’ three water treatment plants will continue throughout the winter, although visible progress might not be seen for some time.
Public Works Director Ryan Stempski called this stage of construction the “boring stage of getting a lot of underground utilities in.”
The snow and frozen ground will slow progress, but “they’ll keep going all winter,” said Stempski.
Works will be removing rock, rerouting power, and working with utilities for the next couple of months on the site before wall panels will be raised next year.

Well lines
The cold weather stopped work on the final stretch of drilling well lines along North Frontage Road early last month.
“We ran out of season, which was expected,” said Stempski.
Well lines were being horizontally drilled along North Frontage Road, with came to a halt due to cold weather. For the time being, trucks and construction equipment remain on the median between Highway 55 and North Frontage Road awaiting spring.
Along West 7th Street, which laid lines to Lions Park, is completed. Half of the street was dug up in order to lay the new well lines and afterward, a temporary lift was laid on the half of the street that was dug up.
This temporary lift was laid on gravel and is meant to withstand the harsh Minnesotan freeze cycle while allowing residents access to their driveways and homes in the coming months. Next year, the entire stretch of Seventh Street that was under construction is set to be milled and overlayed. This process is currently expected for June 2026.

Lions Park Pavillion

The rebuilding of the Lions Park Pavillion, which was meant to be a near-perfect reconstruction of the original pavilion, continues to stall. The project was initially slated to be finished in early November before winter came to Hastings, but delays with the contractor Action Construction Services have kept that from happening.
The pavilion burnt down in August of last year, with Hastings Fire Department receiving a call on the fire at 3 a.m. Aug. 25. At that time, Hastings Fire Chief John Townsend attributed the damage to the pavilion to the time of night the fire was started, which allowed it to grow larger before being noticed and therefore caused more damage.
The pavilion was originally built in 2007 for $140,000.
In September, the city council signed a $335,000 contract with Action Construction Services to rebuild the pavilion. The vast majority of the contract amount was covered by insurance however, leaving the city on the hook for only $8,000 of that total, according to City Administrator Dan Wietecha at that meeting.
For more information about construction projects in Hastings, including updates to ongoing projects, visit the Public Works page of the city’s website at www.hastingsmn.gov/city-government/city-departments/public-works-and-engineering/