Cape city, school officials: No rush to plan aquatic center

Cape Girardeau city and school officials don’t plan to plunge into design and construction of an indoor aquatic center without exploring all financial options.

Neil Glass, Cape Girardeau School District superintendent, said Friday planning for the aquatic project remains a work in progress.

“We want to do it right,” Glass said at the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee.

After the meeting, Mayor Bob Fox said the city and school district are looking for additional financial partners.

“We have to have other partners,” he said.

A conceptual plan for Alma Schrader Elementary School, designed by Phillip B. Smith Architect LLC.Submitted

Fox added he believes the project can attract additional financial partners.

School officials have said they hope to convince the national YMCA organization to participate in the project.

Fox said the school district and the city government are “willing to wait until we get it right.”

The city has committed $6 million to the project. The school district has pledged to spend $4 million to help build the facility if voters pass an April 2 bond issue.

The city and school district have agreed to share the operating costs.

The size and design of the facility has not been determined.

School officials, however, unveiled a brochure Friday showing a conceptual plan for the aquatic center. which would feature a competitive pool and a recreational pool. The center, as shown, would connect to Jefferson Elementary School.

But Glass said after the meeting the layout could change, depending on the final plan.

Fox said after the meeting the big concern is “not the size of the pool,” but the annual cost of operating the facility. Fox said it’s estimated operating costs could total about $1 million a year.

Glass said the aquatic center is just one of the projects that would be funded with a $12 million, no-tax-increase bond issue. Most of the funding — $8 million — would pay for improvements to two elementary schools and other district facilities.

“This is about so much more than a pool,” he said.

“Proposition Y is all about community. It is about educating students to be the best they can be,” he said.

The bond issue would provide $4 million for improvements to Alma Schrader and Jefferson elementary schools and $1.5 million to construct a prekindergarten center on the Jefferson School campus. An estimated $2 million would be spent on classroom modernizations and equipment. Another $850,000 is earmarked for new roofs and heating and cooling upgrades at several schools, and repaving of school parking lots.

The proposed improvements encompass the third and final phase of the school district’s comprehensive plan, Glass said.

Alma Schrader and Jefferson were constructed between 1958 and 1961. Glass said they are long overdue for improvements.

The district wants to develop high-tech classrooms at both elementary schools and provide new computer labs. Updates would be made to the gymnasium and cafeteria at Alma Schrader.

A new library and kitchen would be constructed at Alma Schrader.

At Jefferson, the plan calls for constructing a new gymnasium, kitchen and cafeteria. The new structure could connect to the aquatic center and include an upper area for spectator seating and a lower level that would house lockers and support space. The school kitchen would connect to the spectator area, allowing it to provide concession services for the aquatic facility, according to school officials.

The entire structure would connect to the existing Jefferson School, but would have its own entry area, according to the shown layout.

School officials have suggested the project would turn the Jefferson campus into a community center.

Glass told chamber members the aquatic center could help revitalize Cape Girardeau’s south-side neighborhood.

All of the proposed improvements in the school district, where 60 percent of students are economically disadvantaged, are designed to help students succeed, Glass said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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