Last winter, a windstorm toppled one of Isaac Evans Park’s big cottonwood trees, dropped it onto the picnic shelter and flattened it.

Much to the consternation of park visitors, who had to go last summer without it.

Since then, park goers have been talking to city leaders to find out when they could expect a new shelter.

On Monday evening, the Auburn City Council answered the question, by approving a $133,004 construction contract with Waters and Woods to build the shelter’s replacement.

Daryl Faber, director of Auburn Parks, Arts and Recreation, told the council the new picnic shelter will look the same as the old one, be in the same place as its predecessor and match the nearby restroom.

But it’ll be shiny and new. And oh, without a tree pancaking its splintered remnants.

“Basically, it looks like the last one, only (2 feet higher) … so it doesn’t feel so enclosed and a little nicer,” Faber told the council. “But we matched the same design, which matches the restroom there.”

Faber said the shelter had to be rebuilt at the same spot and could not be built larger because it is within 200 feet of the shoreline of the Green River.

Four companies responded to the call to bid, but Waters and Woods submitted the lowest responsible bid. An insurance claim is funding the project.

Faber said construction on the project should start in about two weeks, and, depending on weather, wrap up in about two months.

“Definitely before the next picnic season,” Faber said.

“I have been getting a lot of inquiries about it, so I am happy to see this,” said Councilmember Yolanda Trout-Manuel.

“A long time coming,” added Mayor Nancy Backus.