Tuscumbia Council looking to fill Spring Park restaurant space

Several issues surrounding Spring Park were major topics for discussion at the May 6 meeting of the Tuscumbia City Council.

Among those items on the agenda were what to do going forward with the restaurant space that was formerly occupied by Dick Howell’s Barbecue.

The space has been vacant for some months after the Florence-based business decided not to renew its lease on the Spring Park location, which offers a walk-up window for customer orders.

Mayor William Foster said he and now former Parks and Recreation Director Joel Kendrick, who has since swapped over to Public Works, decided to hold off on leasing the space until the nearby kayak launch was completed in the park.

“I could have already leased it out to restaurants, but we held off until we got the kayak launch,” Foster said. “We left it vacant for the time being. I have three people looking at it now. After the Council) gets the contract put together within the next few weeks, we can put it out there and decide who is best for Tuscumbia.”

Foster said the kayak launch has been in the works for two years now. He said it has taken that long to get through all the red tape and get the feature dug.

Now that it is a feature in Spring Park, Foster and others want whatever business eventually fills the restaurant space to also offer kayak rentals.

The hope is that will allow more visitors to Spring Park to utilize the kayak launch, as well as increasing revenue for the business and city.

Foster said he hopes the new contract will be approved by the Council at the next meeting on May 20 so a new tenant might be found.