Skate park wheels into future with new name

Cape Girardeau’s skate park is wheeling into the future with a new name.

The city council voted Monday to rename the park as Cape Noon Optimist Wheel Park in recognition of the donations made to the project by that civic group.

According to the naming application from parks and recreation director Julia Jones, the Optimist Club initially partnered with the city’s Parks and Recreation Foundation to offer $25,000 toward construction of the skate park.

The club then contributed an additional $25,000 for the project and requested the skate park be named in honor of the group, Jones wrote in the application.

Council members approved a design-build contract for the long-sought skate park in April 2018. But construction was postponed until after the SEMO District Fair concluded in September, city officials said.

The site near East Rodney Drive and Hawthorne Road has been used for fair parking for years.

American Ramp Co. of Joplin, Missouri, constructed the concrete, triangle-shaped skate park, at a cost of less than $300,000, city officials said. The city paid the bulk of the expense.

The skate park informally opened last fall even before the final amenities were completed.

City manager Scott Meyer said Monday the park is “heavily used.”

Other business

In other action, the council made two appointments to the Town Plaza Community Improvement District Board of Directors.

The council appointed Jack Ford and reappointed Paul “Scott” Campbell to terms expiring in April 2023.

A large pothole in Town Plaza shopping center prompted the city council last month to push the developer to fix the pavement before it would fill positions on the community improvement district board.

Mayor Bob Fox and other council members said in March they had received numerous complaints about the poor condition of pavement at Town Plaza, including a large pothole on Plaza Way.

Greater Missouri Builders of St. Charles, Missouri, owns the shopping center and largely controls the community improvement district (CID).

Fox said the city has little control over the developer besides appointment of CID board members, who administer the use of revenue from a sales tax levied in the district.

Greater Missouri Builders notified the city March 22 the pothole had been repaired, city officials said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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