Cape Girardeau City Council gets look at plans for use of parks and storm water sales tax

The projects supported by the parks and storm water sales tax are close to coming off the drawing board, the Cape Girardeau City Council learned Monday evening.

Architects planning the Osage Community Centre and Aquatic Park, the redesign of the Jaycee Municipal Golf Course, the Arena Building renovation and the new Shawnee Community Center presented detailed drawings at a council work session. In every case, the architects said they expect bid documents will be ready for interested contractors sometime in late winter or early spring.

The half-cent sales tax, approved in April, will provide more than $20 million over 10 years for capital improvements in city parks. After 10 years, most of the tax would expire, leaving a one-eighth cent levy to support ongoing operations of the parks.

The proposals presented Monday evening go beyond the original plans in some respects, architects said, allowing for the purchase of additional facilities if bids come in below estimates and showing where extras would be placed if money becomes available in the future.

For example, at the Osage Centre, where $2.6 million has been set aside for renovations and expansion and $6 million is available for the Aquatic Center, the extras include more meeting space, a larger fitness area and up to 250 more parking spaces, architect David Markey of Kennesaw, Ga., told the council.

As she looked over the drawings -- Markey provided detailed plans of the footprints of the expanded and new facilities at Mount Auburn Road and Kingshighway -- councilwoman Marcia Ritter said, "We are going to have to eventually look at another entrance and exit."

Markey said he expects to have the detailed plans ready for bidders in March or April.

At the golf course, where plans originally called for upgrading the greens and new irrigation system, architect Arthur Schaupeter of St. Louis offered up a plan that reworks most of the course. Some holes will be made longer, while others will have trees removed to make the game more enjoyable for less skilled players. "This puts the game in the golfer's hands," Schaupeter said.

Once again, Schaupeter was offering a more extensive plan to give bidders options and create the opportunity for the city to buy more than the basics if the bids come in low, he said.

The golf course would close in late May or June for the work to begin. The project can be completed by September with a projected reopening date of early summer 2010 after the new grass is well established, he said.

The work at the Shawnee Sports Complex includes the new community center, as well as proposals for renovated and new concession stands to serve people using the park for softball and soccer. That work should be ready for bids by March 1 with a groundbreaking ceremony by Aug. 1, architect Ron Grojean of Cape Girardeau said.

In other action, the council approved new rules for taxicabs that will require owners to have a logo displayed on their vehicles, set up new rules for screening potential drivers and set minimum standards for all the cab's interior systems, including air conditioning and windows, to be in good working order.

The council also approved an annexation of 43 acres near the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport owned by MidAmerica Hotels and the annexation of 1.62 acres nearby owned by NAB Automation.

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

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