The Jefferson City Parks and Recreation Commission is considering ways to ease the financial burden of constructing a multipurpose building, looking at both collaborations and sponsorships.
At the commission meeting Tuesday, Commissioner Brad Bates said he has met with 35 people, including elected officials and private business owners, about the department's plans for a multipurpose building, adding that he found a very high interest level within the community.
"I think there's a lot of folks that want to see it come to fruition," Bates said.
At last month's commission meeting, Bates was nominated to lead an exploration into alternative sites for potential partnerships within the community for the planned project.
Currently, department staff are working with the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce on a proposal to combine the multipurpose building with the Training for Life Campus project, which is a Special Olympics Missouri project. The chamber also has been discussing the proposal with the Jefferson City Public Schools to have the facility on 20 acres of the school district's land on Missouri 179 and Mission Drive.
The commission has been working toward construction of a multipurpose building, but has struggled with the project's budget. The department has identified roughly $5 million for the facility, but commission members have indicated a desire for a facility that likely would cost closer to $8 million. The commission has previously identified Riverside Park, on the city's east side, as the location for a multipurpose building.
Bates said there is a strong possibility that roughly 35 percent of the project's cost could be covered through sponsorships and donations from private entities, ones that may "step forward as we progress."
Lincoln University also is interested in a possible collaboration, Bates said, though the discussions are in the very early stages and not much is known about what the university would require of the facility.
Another possibility, Bates said, is a private developer, who he did not name, has indicated a strong interest in constructing a six to eight court facility, which is about twice the size of the planned parks project. Bates said the developer would then lease the facility to the department for their programming needs.
"They're talking much grander than our project," Bates said.
Bates said "if everything works out," the developers would like to visit with the commission at next month's meeting.
But the talk of possible collaborations brought up another issue with the facility. Bates said the department needs to figure out exactly what its programming needs will be in order to ensure any partnership would work out.
"How are we going to collaborate with another partner," Bates asked. "I don't know the answer."
Tina Werner, general recreation and support services division director, said staff had established a list of needs based off current programs, but they could develop a wish list of programming needs if they had access to a larger facility.
Bates said he has planned another meeting with community members and suggested the commission continue to discuss what the department's programming needs will be with a future multipurpose building.