Answering 4 big questions about the proposed $8.5 million Dunlap Training Center
Interest in the proposed $8.5 million Dunlap Training Center has sparked a lot of questions.
The 42,500-square-foot addition is set to be voted on by the Dunlap High School school board at the July 17 meeting. If passed, the Dunlap campus would house the 283-by-150-foot building that includes three full-size basketball courts along with a 165-meter indoor track with an area for long jump and pole vault. The structure would also contain a golf simulator, a dance studio, a storage room, restroom/locker room areas, a small office and a training room.
Here are four questions with answers from Dunlap superintendent Dr. Scott Dearman regarding the indoor athletic facility planned to be located at the corner of Legion Hall Road and Cedar Hills Drive, adjacent to the current high school.
Background: Inside Dunlap High School's plans to build an $8.5 million training center
Can the Dunlap Training Center be used by the public?
"It will not be for public use in that we are not going to be opening up to the public to come in and just walk at their leisure, because then we have to have somebody man it," Dearman said. "It's just going be like the high school gym if you have a key card as a coach. You can go in there as a parent if you're in there for Dunlap (Recreation). I assume you can walk the track while your kid does a practice or something, but we're not trying to compete with any local gyms.
"We're going to work with the town here and our (Dunlap) rec teams are going to use it as well, so it will be a community use. Between our teams, which obviously take the priority, but then also working with the Dunlap rec, this thing will be used constantly."
Why is the indoor track not 200 meters?
"(Where the Training Center is located) is limited in size, though. We would have liked to have maybe considered a 200-meter (track) — that's kind of the gold standard indoor track. But unfortunately, the space just isn't there to do it. It just won't fit."
Does the center include a pool? Was that discussed?
Dunlap High School is home to a heated indoor pool used by its swim team and offers summer swim lessons. The new facility "does not include a pool," said Dearman. "It was discussed, but we just put about half to three-quarters of a million (dollars) into renovations of the (current high school) pool just a few years ago, and the price of a pool is actually more than the training center itself. It's $13 million or more, and that's an old quote. It's probably more than that now."
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This is a large investment. Was there talk of just building a new school?
The $8.5 million for the athletic center will come from the school's reserve funding, of which there is about $38 million, said Dearman. The remainder of the money is held in reserve for projects such as this, so it is not earmarked for anything. Dearman said Dunlap also plans to build a new Wilder-Waite Elementary School, which should expand capacity from 350 to about 600.
Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Answering questions about the proposed Dunlap Training Center
