McKinley Park Girl Scout cabin to be destroyed

Creston’s Parks and Recreation board decided Tuesday to have the Girl Scout cabin in McKinley Park destroyed. The board also decided to pursue a grant for a Pickle Ball court at McKinley.

Board chairman John Kawa said the approximately 75-year-old Girl Scout cabin has gone unused for five years and is too much of a liability to fix. Kawa cited the need for a new roof, concrete, floor, doors and windows, which he last quoted two years ago at nearly $50,000 to repair.

Board member Gary Borcherding toured the facility for salvageable items.

“Mark [Parks Director Mark Huff] and I went through it two weeks ago, three weeks ago,” he said. “There’s two tables, folding tables in there that we can save, there’s a refrigerator that works and a telescope, we had no idea what it’s for or who’s it is, if it works.”

Huff said he’s considering having the cabin destroyed.

“I’m going to check with Todd [Creston Fire Chief Todd Jackson] to see if we can burn it,” he said.

However, no decision was made to burn the cabin.

“Maybe, it’s a possibility, but I don’t know if he’ll be interested or not,” Huff said.

Pickle Ball

Kawa said the board is pursuing a grant to install a Pickle Ball court at McKinley Park for active seniors. Pickle Ball is a game similar to table tennis but on a full-scale court as a team of players return a large whiffle ball to each other across a net.

“We’re going to proceed with that,” he said. “It’s a $1,000 grant, it’s going to take a lot more than that if it gets done but we’ll proceed trying to get it done. It’s by the handball court.”

In other Parks and Recreation news...

• The board considered installing new solar lights to the walking trail at McKinley Park, however, no action was taken.