PARK BOARD OKs WISH-LIST MASTER PLAN

Forgetting budget restraints, the city Parks and Recreation Advisory Board did a little dreaming about what sort of park development and recreational facilities Cape Girardeau could use.

The board spent nearly 18 months reviewing existing park uses and dreaming about what sort of facilities could be built. It then developed a 15-year master plan from the information and adopted the plan Tuesday night at a board meeting.

The plan will be combined with a study by Horner and Shifrin, a consulting firm in St. Louis that has been looking at overall building needs for the city.

The company's draft report should reach the city this week, and a final report will be issued this summer.

The master plan was done primarily by parks department staff, which meant some savings to the city. The work for a parks master plan is somewhat different from what other city departments might go through, said Dan Muser, parks director.

"We aren't just looking at a building," he said. "Our facilities are a lot more widespread. It's a bigger task to put it all together."

The parks department sent out surveys last fall asking residents to list what types of park facilities they use regularly. The questionnaire also asked about possible use of an aquatic center, more softball and baseball fields, an ice hockey rink, skateboard park and handball courts.

Much of the survey results "validated what we had already been planning," Muser said. "So the board and staff felt good about what we had received."

The master plan looks at the initial park needs in Phase 1. That phase includes a family aquatic center, renovations to the Jaycee Municipal Golf Course clubhouse, renovations and construction of park shelters and playgrounds, adding ball fields at Shawnee Park and Arena Park and building a skateboard or in-line hockey park.

Other projects include expansion of the Osage Community Centre, acquiring more land for future park development, building a youth softball complex, renovating Central Municipal Pool and building an ice hockey rink.

How many of the projects will be completed is hard to say, Muser said. "Whether it happens or not, we've looked at everything that could be done in the next 15 years if we had the money."

The plan lists activities and parks facilities "we think the community could use," Muser said.

Part of the overall master plan includes renovations to the A.C. Brase Arena Building. But those renovations would be over and above the $230,000 in renovations already under way.

Last spring the parks department began some renovation work primarily inside like painting, remodeling office space and laying new carpet. Parks department workers are doing the majority of the work.

The construction has been somewhat of an inconvenience for people using the building, but city crews have tried their best to work around events in the building, said Scott Williams, recreation supervisor.

"I don't know of anything that we've postponed or canceled because of it," said Brock Davis, park supervisor.

The overall plan also includes remodeling the restrooms, dining room and kitchen.

The remodeling will give the building a new look but also provide better handicap accessibility. Concrete steps are being torn out this week so that a ramp can be added.

Carpet on the interior steps is slated to be replaced with vinyl for "better grip and visibility," Williams said. The work is a combination of requirements for the Americans with Disabilities Act but "makes it a lot easier to get into the building."

The improvements will be funded through the A.C. Brase Foundation. The city approved a lease-purchase agreement that is helping to finance the work, and payments will be made on the loan.