Appleton invests $700,000 to reconstruct parking lot, veterans memorial at Scheig Center
Duke Behnke, Appleton Post-Crescent Published 6:43 a.m. CT May 8, 2020
The parking lot at the Scheig Center is under construction at Memorial Park in Appleton. (Photo: Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
Question: What is being done at the Scheig Center in Appleton? The parking lot has been ripped up.
Answer: The Appleton Parks and Recreation Department is in the middle of a $700,000 project to replace and reconfigure the parking lot at the Scheig Center, 1313 E. Witzke Blvd.
Because the new parking lot will feature a drop-off lane to bring people closer to the building, the Veterans Memorial Garden — with the polished granite terrace and dry riverbed of stone slabs — will be redesigned and relocated farther south.
Dean Gazza, Appleton's director of parks, recreation and facilities management, said the parks department is responsible for maintaining more than 3 million square feet of hard surfaces: parking lots, sidewalks, tennis courts, etc.
"The Scheig Center parking lot for years kept deteriorating and had not seen a lot of maintenance," he said. "It became time to replace it."
The new parking lot at the Scheig Center in Appleton will have 92 stalls and a drop-off lane. (Photo: Courtesy of Appleton)
The project involves underground stormwater work, stormwater islands and sidewalk connections, in addition to the 92-stall lot and drop-off lane.
The work began a month ago and is scheduled to be finished by mid-June.
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Gazza said the reconstruction of the Veterans Memorial Garden will reuse some of the materials but "will look dramatically different." The city worked with Sculpture Valley on the redesign.
The Veterans Memorial Garden will be redone, in part to eliminate the uneven terrace that created a trip hazard. (Photo: Courtesy of Sculpture Valley)
"It will still be a dry riverbed, but it's going to be more of a meandering stream than it is now," said Alex Schultz, executive director of Sculpture Valley. "It will start at the parking lot, and you can wander through. It will be more secluded than it is now. There will be a lot of berms and some plantings."
The memorial will include a series of sidewalks and reflection circles. One of the circles will overlook a marshy pond, allowing visitors to view wildlife.
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