Cole Camp group pursues community center

A coalition of Cole Camp residents, officials and business leaders recently formed a nonprofit organization to pursue the development of a community center in the city.

The effort was spearheaded by a steering committee composed of members from two local nonprofit groups, the Cole Camp Betterment Association and North Benton County Community Services.

At a board of directors meeting Tuesday night, members finalized bylaws and amended the NBCCS into a new organization, Cole Camp Community Center Inc., which still requires final approval from the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office.

Marge Lumpe, board treasurer for the new group, said the steering committee has been working on plans for the community center since early 2009. Finding a potential site to house the facility initially proved challenging, but Lumpe said the group identified a 12-acre site, in Prairie’s End development on state Route F in southwestern Cole Camp, that would provide a suitable location for the center.

The organization now holds a purchase option for the tract of land until the end of 2010, but Lumpe said members are expected to negotiate an extension on that option later this year.

Once the hunt for a site had finished, the group sought out Robert Rollings Architects, of Sedalia, to develop an initial rendering for a 15,000 square-foot facility, which is on display at Cole Camp City Hall.

Lumpe said organizers envision the center to serve as the new home of the city’s senior center, and also plan to include exercise space, walking tracks, a reception hall, meeting rooms and an outdoor recreation area.

Based on the preliminary designs, the estimated cost of building the structure is about $2 million, Lumpe said.     

Janis Garren, coordinator of the Cole Camp Senior Center, said with new fitness and crafting programs, as well as plans for expanded kitchen services, the center is starting to outgrow its current facility.

“Right now our building isn’t big enough to have our exercise equipment or a place to hold our craft programs here,” Garren said. “We’re hoping to get new programs in here where we will grow, and we kind of want a bigger space.”

While the senior center has been coordinating with the new group throughout the planning stages of the center’s development, Garren said it was being designed as a place for people of all ages in the community to come together.

Lumpe said the new organization has reached out to several entities to get the word out on its proposal, and the early support for the project has been strong. The board of directors includes representatives from the city government, local schools, private businesses, other nonprofit organizations and interested residents.

“We want to make sure it is a community center for the entire community,” Lumpe said.

Irv Jensen, executive director of the Benton County Development Corporation, has been advising the group as the proposal was developed. With the formation of the nonprofit organization finalized, he said the next steps will be working out a design and scope of work for the project.

He said it will be important to maintain the support throughout the community once the designs are completed and the focus shifts to fundraising.

“They will have to get the whole community behind it,” Jensen said. “If they do, they have a good shot of getting it off the ground, and that community has shown they can work together on something before.”

Lumpe said the organization plans to eventually establish committees devoted to raising money for the project through donations, pledges and the pursuit of grants and tax credits, and members are hopeful to see the project completed in the next three years.

“We feel like we have a good start now. We’re further along than we’ve ever been,” she said.