Tuxedo Park recreation improvements on city agenda
Update May 7, 2019: The restroom project at Tuxedo Park has been postponed until after the completion of a current flood plain study of Crete, which may affect the design specifications, building requirements and cost estimates of this facility.
Update Jan. 3, 2019: City Council members approved the design and location of the new restroom facility in Tuxedo Park at the regular meeting on Jan. 2. Building plans include men's and women's restrooms and ADA accessible water fountains in a building to the north and west of the current concession and restroom building near the softball complex. The concession stand will remain with its current restroom portion likely being converted to storage space.
Update Nov. 7: The Crete City Council approved the design agreement for a new restroom facility for the Tuxedo Park softball fields. The design will be done over the winter and bid in early spring for a spring construction.
The Crete City Council has approved one project with another on the Nov. 6 agenda aimed at improving recreational facilities at Tuxedo Park.
An engineering agreement was approved in August with JEO Consulting Group, Inc. for a shade structure at Thom Stallard Legion Baseball Field. JEO is on the Parks and Recreation committee and regular council agendas this month for an agreement to design a new restroom building.
The first project is a 50 by 25 foot shade structure standing 18 feet tall to cover the baseball bleachers in front of the Legion Field press box. JEO’s engineering fees are $5,750 with the estimated cost of $28,000 for the USA Shade brand structure from Crouch Recreation of Omaha. JEO will be the project manager for construction.
The restroom building, planned as a 25 by 35 foot structure, will house ADA accessible men’s and women’s restroom facilities, replacing current facilities joined with the concession stand building at the Howard Waltman Softball Complex. The new building would stand near the current concession stand, where plans for use of its former restroom area are undetermined.
The Waltman Complex hosts youth softball and baseball, Crete High School’s fall softball invite, as well as adult coed softball. Large youth tournaments are held during the summer with as many as several dozen teams and accompanying spectators attending over individual weekends.
Thom Stallard Legion Field is home to the Crete American Legion summer baseball program and the Crete High School baseball team in the spring. A new scoreboard and dugouts, as well as press box improvements, have been completed in recent years in cooperation with other local lorganizations. The Legion program holds several annual tournaments bringing teams and spectators from across the state.