Crystal City officials have received permission to build a park on property the Twin City Levee Commission owns on County Road south of the Twin City Little League ball fields in Crystal City.
Plans call for the old Darrell “Hickey” White Park to be relocated there.
The Levee Commission is a joint agency of Crystal City and Festus. The commission board voted unanimously July 16 to approve a resolution allowing the city to use at least part of the approximately 5-acre property, which is in Ward 1, for the new Hickey White Park,
The old park also was in Ward 1, on Crystal Avenue on the southern edge of the town and was named after Hickey White, a Crystal City High School basketball player who died at 18 of a blood disease in 1977, shortly before he was to graduate.
The park closed not long after the Crystal City Park Board decided in 2014 to stop maintaining it because its restroom building was not compliant with federal Americans with Disabilities Act standards and because the property often flooded.
Brian White, brother of Hickey White, attended the commission meeting and said he is happy with the passage of the resolution.
“They’ve moved forward and now the Park Department and the mayor can get this going,” White said.
Although not members of the commission, Crystal City Mayor Tom Schilly and Festus Mayor Sam Richards attended the July 16 Levee Commission meeting held at Crystal City Hall.
Schilly said he approves of the plan to build the new Hickey White Park on the commission property. “I truly want to keep this process moving forward in a positive way,” he said.
He said he intends to establish a committee of officials and residents from Crystal City and Festus to help decide what will go into the park. Brian White said he will serve on the committee.
Schilly said no details for the park have been established yet.
“This is the first step of a sequence of events,” Schilly said. “It will be up to the (Crystal City) Park Board to develop it.”
Jim Berger, a member of the Park Board, said the topic will be discussed at the board’s next meeting and he personally likes what he has heard about the new park.
In 2015, the park board allocated $50,000 to relocate the Hickey White Park, said Lonnie Compton, the board chair.
The topic of the new park had been a source of controversy ever since it closed.
The dispute was recently rekindled when city officials made plans to construct new Animal Control and Street Department buildings at the old PPG parking lot site, where some Crystal City Ward 1 residents had wanted the new Hickey White Park to be built.
City leaders, however, have long said the PPG property, where glass was manufactured, was declared contaminated by the state Department of Natural Resources and while the parking lot area is suitable for work buildings, they do not believe it is a safe area for children to play in a park.
Council members voted 7-0 June 29 to award a $298,986 contract to Sargent Construction in Fredericktown to build the Street Department building at the PPG parking lot site.
City Administrator Jason Eisenbeis estimated the work will begin in late July. The Animal Control building will be constructed later, he said.
The city’s existing animal shelter and street shed buildings are on Hugs Landing Road and need to be relocated due to recurring flooding issues and deterioration of the structures, officials say.