What’s on your list of wanted amenities for De Soto’s community center? One De Soto child requests “a pool with a very twisty slide, a lasy river and a kitty pool.”
While De Soto City Hall already features a community center, the city is exploring building a new facility with more amenities. Consultants Clark and Enersen are helping the city develop a master plan for a potential facility.
Phase one of the master plan wrapped up earlier this spring, which included reviewing prior studies, a market analysis and public engagement. Residents want a walking track, fitness rooms, gymnasium space and some form of aquatic space.
“A big talking point as we move forward is what type of aquatics would be most desirable,” said Chris Kastelic, owner of Denver-based architectural and planning services company StudioCKA, during the consultants’ update to the De Soto City Council on May 7.
Kastelic works with Clark and Enerson, helping develop the master plan.
For De Soto resident Danielle Hessong, she said a pool would be great — it would mean a pool closer to the USD 232 school district, which her children attend. She also highlighted an indoor walking track as a priority.
“A pool for sure,” Hessong said when asked about her priorities. “Our district, our high school has a swim team that doesn’t get to do anything on site … It’d be really nice.”
During public engagement, the consultants also conducted a survey that garnered more than 400 responses. Of the responses, 85% were De Soto residents and 97% were people within De Soto USD 232 boundaries. Fitness rooms, indoor walking tracks, aquatics and gym space scored the highest for wanted amenities.
“Not everyone in this community will participate in a facility like this,” said Kastelic, “but we want to make sure we understand how it supports the community as a whole.”
Phase two of the master plan, which the consultants are now working on, focuses on developing conceptual designs, refining cost estimates, and evaluating potential funding and operational models. It also includes more steering committee meetings and another public engagement opportunity.
“Throughout all of that, we’ll be doing cost estimating,” said Clark and Enersen Architect Jean Stoverink, “which is estimating the upfront cost for construction and project costs, but then also looking at operational ranges, so that’s looking at the cost of maintaining the building over the life of the building. We want to make sure it’s a sustainable model.”
For location, the city is considering two options: updating the current facility or the preferred site just south of the high school, to the west of Mexican restaurant El Patron. Public feedback has also leaned toward a new location, with a preference that amenities complement, rather than replace, the old facility.
If the city moves forward with developing a new location, it’s likely that the old facility would remain in place, the consultants said.
The steering committee has three more planning meetings, set for June, July and September. A final public engagement opportunity is slated for Aug. 20 and the consultants expect to wrap-up the plan by October.
