WEST PLAINS, Mo. — Voters in the city of West Plains overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to rehabilitate the Parkside House at Butler Children’s Park.
The final unofficial total for the Tuesday vote was 1149-340, rejecting an ordinance to save the home for future use.
West Plains city clerk Mallory Snodgras told Ozark Radio News that the city was thankful for the voter turnout on Tuesday:
Nearly 20% of registered voters in West Plains turned out for the special municipal election.
Requests for comment from Dick Davidson, the author and proponent of the proposal, were unreturned as of Tuesday night.
The Parkside House was constructed at the turn of the 20th century and was used as a community center before there was a dedicated space for city events. The home and property were gifted to the city of West Plains by the Butler family in 1977 and housed the city parks and recreation department from 1980 until 2013, when the department moved to the Jimmie Carroll Sports Complex on Olden St.
Since then, the home has remained vacant.
The West Plains City Council publicly solicited proposals for Butler Children’s Park and usage of the home from June 25 to August 1, 2018. During that time, two proposals were received – one from the group Friends of Parkside to renovate the home into a STEM-focused discovery center for kids, and a plan by city staff to either demolish the home and install a splash pad at its location, relocate the home, or hold an auction to salvage the interior woodwork of the home before demolition.
The city rejected the Friends of Parkside plan and approved the city proposal. However, a specific plan for the home was not adopted before an injunction was filed against the city in the Fall of 2018 to stop the city from taking action. That injunction will be heard in court again later this year.
Davidson’s plan was presented to the city council in September 2018. It proposed keeping the home in its current location, renovating the home, and completing park improvements suggested by the city in their proposal. The city did not take up that proposal, citing the legal injunction.
The Parkside House was condemned in Summer 2018 after the collapse of an interior column in the basement and issues with the foundation were discovered. A plastic fence was installed around the home to keep park visitors away from the structure. Later, the West Plains Park Board recommended closing the entire park until the Parkside House issue was resolved. Following that recommendation, chain-link fencing was installed around the perimeter of the home after an engineering review stated the house was not in imminent danger of collapsing.
Davidson successfully completed an initiative petition to get his proposal before West Plains voters on Tuesday. The city contended that his proposal violated both the Missouri Constitution and the city charter because it did not create or provide a new source of funding for the expenses that would be incurred by the city should the ordinance pass.
