In the coming years, the Rensenpark in Emmen must continue to flourish as a city park and creative breeding ground. The municipality of Emmen has a total of 11 million euros to give the park a hefty boost. How will that money be spent in the coming years?
Recently the news about the Rensenpark has been anything but rosy. Often it was about the disappearance of things. In recent years, among other things, the children’s farm, the Night Watch of Emmen and Theehuis Twessers gave up. Youth theater Loods13 will stop this summer. But in the background the municipality is working on various boosts for the park. “The Rensenpark is a real gem in Emmen. A beautiful park in the heart of the city is quite unique,” said alderman Albert Jan Jakobs.
“We really want to put something beautiful for the residents of Emmen, that is our aim.” 2025, according to Jakobs, the year that there is a lot of time is being done. One of the projects that are already being worked on is the piece at the three striking city villas Hospershuis (accommodation from Streekomroep Sun! 34), De Lindenhof and the Drommedaar. The area gets an open and green character and the disappeared front gardens of the villas return. The last two buildings are preparing the municipality for hospitality.
A restaurant housed a restaurant until spring 2023, but that went bankrupt. The municipality then decided to thoroughly renovate the building. The municipality initially reserved an amount of 6.5 tons for this. But more than 7 tons have to be added due to, among other things, wage and material costs. The city council must make a decision this month on the extra money.
During the renovation, a new manager for the restaurant is being sought at the same time.
There is no concrete plan for Villa de Lindenhof. Finally, on the site of the former and underground shark stay, the new accommodation for the former visual art center is being worked on, the new accommodation.
The new building has been struggling with moisture problems for over a year. According to Jakobs, the conversations with contractor Koenen Bouw about the possible solutions are going well. During this period the natural stone affected by moisture is dried. If that is on it, follow -up steps can be looked at, says Jakobs. It is expected that this will be announced further before the summer.
Emmen also wants to work on the area around the former savannah and the old Elephantiland. Initially, the Fun Forest company wanted to build a climbing park here. Jakobs: “In the end, that did not happen. The company saw it off at the time. Among other things, Corona did not work financially.” Yet there may be a successor in some form. “We are researching there. Grolloo and Appelscha also have beautiful climbing parks and I don’t see why that could not be done in Emmen.”
In any case, climbing and scrambling remains the theme for the old Elephant Island, Municipal Program Manager Ingrid van der Woude adds. “The rocks and the canal offer a perfect starting point for this. So a climbing park playground or something in the trees is the starting point.” The savannah must become the relaxation place of the Rensenpark, says Van der Woude. “A place to stroll, for picnics or events.” The idea is to surround the savannah with a real boulevard.
The nearby and newly closed tea house Twessers is critically examined. “The idea is to fully make the building more sustainable, or to proceed to demolition and new construction.” First it is investigated how the building is like, Jakobs adds. The same thing happens with the RENTHONTATER and the children’s farm. The municipality would prefer a children’s farm back, or a nature and environmental education center.
In a second round, the other, less characteristic buildings are examined. Jakobs cannot yet say whether buildings are disappearing.
Finally, according to Van der Woude, it is especially important that the public area in the park is refreshed. “Think of the recovery of paths, benches and facilities. The idea is to make everything more presentable, nicer and safer.”