Aquatic center study kicks off
FORUM FILE PHOTO
Water’s Edge Aquatic Design began the process of putting together an aquatic center feasibility study this week that will inform the future of the Maryville Aquatic Center.
MARYVILLE, Mo. — A small group of community organization leaders and interested community members met at the Maryville Community Center on Monday to help give some early, preliminary guidance to the team conducting an aquatic center feasibility study.
Water’s Edge Aquatic Design, of Kansas City, will work over the next several months to develop a report outlining the feasibility of various options to address the aging Maryville Aquatic Center, including renovating the facility versus building a new one, looking at different indoor and outdoor configurations, and analyzing whether the pool could be open year-round.
Kyle McCawley, senior project manager at Water’s Edge, said that ultimately, the best choices presented in the report will be determined by trying to find a sweet spot between what features, programming and amenities community members most want to see from the pool, and how much ongoing financial support the community would be willing to provide.
“What success looks like is different for each community we work with,” McCawley said. “Sometimes it’s cost recovery, sometimes it’s participation, sometimes it’s some kind of a hybrid of all that. But that’s our goal, is to try to say, here’s the different options, here’s the one that’s most feasible based off of these sets of parameters, and then here’s maybe some other scenarios that we’ve maybe explored for you to go through.”
To get an idea of those parameters, Water’s Edge will work through prior feedback about the Aquatic Center’s usage and desired features, like surveys used to inform the 2021 Maryville Parks and Recreation master plan. Then over the next few months, likely in November and December, according to a tentative work schedule provided by Water’s Edge, MPR will host two public forums for members of the community to discuss the plan for the pool. MPR Director Jeff Stubblefield said the meetings will likely be held in the gym at the community center to ensure enough room for everyone who may want to attend.
Monday’s meeting was primarily to get an early idea of the lay of the land, including looking at potential areas of partnership with other organizations in the community — for example, whether there could be interest in collaborations built around physical therapy treatments or other health care uses — that could inform the feasibility study process.
The final report is tentatively scheduled to be submitted sometime in February.
