MADEIRA BEACH – Two years after voting overwhelmingly to save the Snack Shack cabin at Archibald Park, the citizens of Madeira Beach are ready to see something done with it.
“People are asking all the time, ‘When will it open?’ ” Robin VanderVelde told city commissioners at their Feb. 2 workshop session. VanderVelde was a member of the committee appointed to recommend uses for the cabin.
The commission took a big step toward giving the structure a new life by signing an agreement with Paradise Sweets LLC. The company submitted the winning bid to open a concession in the cabin.
Its plan is to model the operation after the popular Snack Shack of prior years, Paradise Sweets co-owner Rita Janecek recently told the commission.
Now the agreement will go to the National Park Service for approval, City Manager W.D. Higginbotham said.
That process normally takes about two months, but NPS regional director William Huie told Higginbotham he will try to expedite the review process.
The Janeceks were asked following the meeting about their timetable for getting the Snack Shack up and running.
“We’re planning for an Easter opening,” said Rita Janecek, adding she is optimistic the NPS will quickly approve the concession license.
A redesign of Archibald Park has been budgeted, but no specific plans have been made for that project, Higginbotham said.
Public works director Michael Maxemow said that it would be a large task and would include redone parking areas, ingress and egress, landscaping and lighting. “We need direction to move forward,” he said.
The park redesign will take care in planning, Higginbotham indicated. “It is important to me that we make this a success, that it assist the people at the beach,” he said.
Still hanging over the cabin’s future are lawsuit threats from Archibald family heirs. Deed restrictions prohibit any commercial activity on the park property, they maintain. Recent e-mails from Alex Archibald Jr. indicate the legal issues have not gone away.
Commissioner Steve Kochick had a message for the Archibalds. “We have bent over backwards to make this something the Archibald family can be proud of,” he said.
