Ad hoc group pushes two-pool plan for Cape, no more 'bubble'

The Cape Girardeau City Council and the local school board should construct a leisure pool on the Jefferson Elementary School campus and renovate the 50-meter Central Municipal Pool as a competitive swimming venue, an ad hoc advisory committee concluded Thursday.

The move would mean an end to the inflatable “bubble” structure at the Central pool, which has been a fixture for decades and led to concerns about poor air quality in the facility.

Committee members last month abandoned the idea of constructing a single indoor aquatic center at Jefferson — which would have both a leisure pool and a competitive pool — because it would be too costly.

The city has committed $6 million to the project as part of a voter-approved parks and stormwater tax; the Cape Girardeau School District has earmarked $4 million for the project as part of a voter-approved bond issue.

Consultant George Deines said the two pool projects could cost $11.8 million: $7.6 million to renovate the Central Municipal Pool and $4.2 million to build the new leisure pool.

Scaling back the projects, however, could bring them within the $10 million budget, he told the committee.

“Ten million dollars, I would say, is a tight budget,” he told the group.

Not renovating the Central pool bathhouse and reducing the size of the leisure pool from 4,000 square feet to 3,000 square feet could bring costs down, Deines said.

With a $10 million budget, ad hoc group members advised no more than $6 million should be spent to renovate Central Municipal Pool, and no more than $4 million should be spent on the leisure pool facility.

Plans call for both pools to be enclosed in permanent, tensioned fabric structures, which Deines described as Sprung structures, a reference to a company that makes them.

Deines, with the consulting group Counsilman-Hunsaker, previously described a Sprung structure as “more of a tent type facility.”

Committee members at one time considered buying a new air-inflated “bubble” to cover the Central pool during winter months, replacing the existing bubble.

Deines said a Sprung structure would be better than having a bubble.

Operating two indoor facilities could double annual operating costs to nearly $800,000 a year, city staff and committee members said.

But committee members suggested new programs and higher user fees could generate enough revenue to cover 50% of the cost. The city and the school district would subsidize the remaining costs.

The two entities already share the cost of subsidizing the Central Municipal Pool operation, with the city paying 60% of the subsidy, city parks and recreation director Julia Jones said.

Under the proposal, both indoor facilities would be outfitted with garage doors, which could be opened during good weather, eliminating the need to heat or cool the facility during those times.

Committee chairman Jeff Glenn said enclosing the Central pool in a permanent structure would eliminate the need to close the pool for several weeks each year to take down the bubble and put it back up.

Keeping the Central pool, at 1920 Whitener St. next to the junior high school, open year round would generate nearly a month’s worth of additional revenue, he said.

The ad hoc group began meeting this summer to look at how best to move forward with an aquatic project, which has been on the drawing board for at least two years and was studied by a joint city/school district committee last year.

The ad hoc group met for more than an hour Thursday at the Osage Centre to finalize its findings.

Glenn said, “When this thing started, we were looking at a $28 million project.” After months of work, Glenn said the group now has “something that is viable.”

Glenn said the final decision on what to build rests with the council and the school board.

Do you like stories about government and courts? Keep up with the latest news by signing up for our daily morning headline email. Go to www.semissourian.com/newsletters to find out more.