Park Board Welcomes Alderman Tennessen, Sets Date for Sappington House Barn Discussion

The had a full agenda last night, open with newly elected Alderman Dan Tennessen giving the aldermanic report.

“Parks is one of my favorite subjects when it comes to Crestwood,” Tennessen said.

Tennessen’s report started off with Culver’s being approved to be built near .

“That’s really exciting for us; it’s a really good looking restaurant,” he said. “We have that little niche (of space) and that’s some really good retail.”

Also in his report was the approval of the request for the $19,500 budget for Kohl’s to be the Aquatic Center’s concessions provider. The Aquatic Center is set to open to the public May 26. A free showing of Jaws will be shown May 25 in the competition pool. Patrons are free to swim or sit on the deck to enjoy the show. Concessions will be open. This begins a season at the pool of more promotion days.

"We are darn near ready to go on the Aquatic Center,” Recreation Center Manager Todd Stover said. “We are scrubbing the chairs, which are pretty darn ugly this year. July 4 is the 10th anniversary of opening the pool, which boggles my mind. A lot of the infrastructure is starting to show age a little bit.”

Tennessen relayed to the board about the three new volunteers approved at the last Board of Aldermen meeting. He said that they would like to get one or two more residents for volunteer board members.

Lastly, Tennessen let the Park Board know about their next duty—to discuss alternate uses of the Sappington House Barn plan. In turn the board decided to move their July meeting up to June to accelerate the project.

“We must view this as an opportunity that if we don’t keep moving forward we might possibly miss,” Tennessen said. “There is an individual who has looked at the site twice since the last meeting.”

Board member Mary Hall said that she knows the house itself is a historic place.

“The library itself was built in 1956—can that (the barn facility) not be expanded?” she said. “Part of when I talked to the restaurateurs who have been there is that it is so cramped and there are small surface areas. I think expansion would be a great thing to do if the barn is not a registered building.”

The new RFP expiration date for the Sappington Barn is Aug. 1.