IN ARENA PARK: SAND-VOLLEYBALL PIT WORK IS UNDER WAY AFTER DELAY

Despite several problems having delayed progress on Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department projects, work on the sand volleyball courts in Arena Park is still under way.

Approval for constructing the courts was granted by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board two months ago. The courts are to be completed adjacent to the Arena Park tennis courts between Optimist and Rodney drives.

Construction of the volleyball pits originally hit a snag due to excessive rainfall in May. Time and finance factors are now largely responsible for the interruption in building plans.

"The idea of putting in sand volleyball courts sounded simple: you dig a pit, put sand in and put up nets." said Dan Muser, parks and recreation director. "But the project became more complicated than I had anticipated.

"We've got the dirt work done, but we had to wait until we got into the next fiscal year to continue with the project."

Muser said the department is now working on choosing a sand vendor and moving the sand to the court sites.

"We were going to get sand from a different source, but we have to switch sources because hauling the sand from out of town was going to be an expensive proposition," he said.

Scarcity of city trucks for use in hauling the sand and pressure to complete other projects are now primary reasons for the delay.

"The trucks we have and the trucks in other city departments are being used for other things," Muser said. "Hauling the sand is going to take quite a bit of time. It's a lot easier to talk about than to do."

Summer plans, said Muser, have to be flexible because many projects are competing for park department resources. Among these projects, he said, are maintaining existing structures, building fences around park fields in time for an NBC conference and an American Legion state conference and completing wiring and roof work on picnic shelters in Arena Park.

Muser said he isn't certain about when the volleyball pits will be finished, but he expects a sand volleyball league to be established by late summer or early fall.

"We don't have an exact timetable," he said, "but we're shooting for the next couple of weeks."