Jackson officials consider building own water park

Southeast Missourian

As the city of Cape Girardeau considers the possibility of building a $6.5 million water park, officials in Jackson say they are contemplating an aquatic addition of their own.

Jackson, which currently operates an outdoor swimming pool in the city park, has for several years considered building a community center that might house an indoor swimming pool.

"The pool we now have is 20 plus years old. It's not state of the art, but it's still a nice pool," said Jackson city administrator Jim Roach.

"As far as I know, we've only had preliminary discussions about it. But then, we've been discussing it for a couple of years now," Roach said.

About three years ago, Jackson Mayor Paul Sander appointed a special committee of residents to review the idea of a community aquatic center.

Sander said the cost of construction of any type of facility, which would likely include basketball facilities, meeting rooms and an indoor pool, is estimated between $5 million and $8 million.

"We've considered a competition-size pool and maybe an indoor kiddie-type water park, but nothing as full-blown as Cape," Sander said.

Sander said the project would most likely be a joint-venture with the Jackson School District or a private entity. The city is currently waiting on word from school district officials as to whether or not they're interested in a partnership. Sander said they should receive a definite answer by the spring of 2003.

Scott City also has an outdoor swimming pool located in the city park, but city officials there say they are not considering adding on or building a new aquatic center due to budget constraints.