The Crestwood Board of Aldermen got the chance to review renderings of the new medians on Watson Road Aug. 23. The medians are part of the redevelopment agreement with Crestwood Crossing developers Dierbergs and McBride Homes.

The city will receive $625,000 in reimbursements for improvements to the medians. In May the board approved a contract with DG2 Design to consult on the project, resulting in the renderings the board were able to review at the August meeting.

“We wanted to have generous use of landscaping, street trees, other vegetation to improve the aesthetic appeal of the corridor,” City Administrator Kris Simpson said. 

Simpson said the plants will include pollinators and drought-tolerant native Missouri plants. He said the medians will feature partnering trees to mimic the double trees in the Crestwood logo.

Also featured in the renderings were cobblestones on the ends of the medians, corten steel — a rusted steel — around the landscaping and spaces for to-be-determined public art on some or all of the medians. The art suggested by DG2 was also corten steel, with interior LED lighting but the rusted color led to split opinions.

“I can tolerate the steel as an edging material, I’m not a fan of going vertical with that,” Mayor Grant Mabie said. “If we’re trying to save cost and DG2 has experience with that kind of design … can we do stainless steel or cast aluminum, recognizing that’s more expensive than the rusted steel? I personally think that would be a more attractive look.”

Ward 4 Alderman John Sebben was in favor of the rusted columns, especially the LED aspect and dark coloring.

“Having (lighting) like that with the darker color metal at night would look … really nice,” Sebben said. 

One option discussed by the board was to commission art from local artists, but the cost would then go over budget. Another suggestion was to ask for art ideas from local schools.

Ward 1 Alderman Jim Zavist said he would like to see fewer signature art pieces, as opposed to many small ones.

“I’d rather see that as a commission piece as opposed to something generic,” Zavist said.

The board has until its next meeting to reach a consensus on the design of the medians.