Younger son is starting his Eagle Scout Service Project

[gwd-scouter]

Hooray. Younger son had his ESSP approved and will begin the work next weekend. We have an historic railroad museum in town with a lovely and expansive garden in back. Lot's of pathways through the garden. All are in need of repair. The main path to the trains is what he is working on. Digging up the old and replacing with brick. He's been planning this for about three months, meeting with the museum director and then with the museum board members. Has his folks lined up and ready to start.

 

He's also working on finishing his fitness program for Personal Fitness, scheduled to finish first week in June. I've known other guys in our District that have had their Eagle BOR at camp. Maybe his will be done there, too.

[Hal_Crawford]

Very Cool! I am a Railroad MB counselor (and a model railroader) so his project sounds near and dear to my heart. Best wishes to your scout for a successful project.

 

Hal

[dg98adams]

I thought the project may not be routine maintence. Is he extending the paths in some way?

 

I am not being critical, my son is about to start Life so these questions are coming up.

 

[Hal_Crawford]

dg98adams:

That was my first (knee jerk) reaction as well but the sentence "Digging up the old and replacing with brick" changed my mind. That sounds like more than routine maintenance. It sounds like a significant upgrade and probably more comprehensive than your typical trail project. With three months of planning I would assume that he has been though all this with the rep from the district or council advancement committee.

 

It is always a good question to ask early on because the routine maintenance question is an issue in many proposed Eagle projects. Good luck to your son as he starts the process.

 

Hal

[gwd-scouter]

Yeah, I guess the first post could make it seem like routine maintenance. Here's a bit more information.

 

Existing main pathway is large pieces of concrete embedded in the ground. No real definition to it. I suppose at some point in time they looked nice and were even, but no longer. There was no real plan when putting them down, just a way for visitors to get from point A to point B without getting their feet wet/muddy.

 

My son's project is to dig up all the concrete, even up and regrade the area and then lay down bricks for the pathway - wide sidewalk really, wide enough for wheelchair access. He's arranged for a contractor to dig up the old path with a bobcat. This man, an ASM in another troop, is also helping my son with the engineering involved to make sure the pathway is laid out correctly and will last.

 

Neat part about the bricks - son got them donated from an old mill that was torn down in our town, so they are from the same era as when the railroads were a big industry here.

 

This really is a big project, not at all what I would consider routine maintenance. I do, however, appreciate the question. Always good to think about those things, as we have a couple more guys in the Troop that will be thinking about projects soon.

 

 

[Hal_Crawford]

Definitely not routine maintenance.

 

Has he checked to see if the project requires a building permit? It might be given that there are ADA and possibly drainage implications. One of our scouts erected two flagpoles as part of his Eagle project. He was surprised to learn that it required a permit not to mention a utility survey because of the digging. As it turned out the code official was... you guessed it... an Eagle scout so he had no problems securing the permit. The contractor will probably know what the local requirements are.

 

Hal

 

 

[packsaddle]

Gwd, when I saw the title of the thread I thought it was you. So, I guess 'congratulations' is in order, at least for the start of the project. I hope everything goes smoothly and successfuly.