Inside Dunlap High School's plans to build an $8.5 million training center
Dunlap High School has released preliminary plans for an $8.5 million indoor athletic complex to be constructed on the school's campus.
The Dunlap Training Center would be a 42,500-square-foot indoor facility located on the high school campus at the corner of Legion Hall Road and Cedar Hills Drive in Dunlap. The center would be used by all the school's athletics, its extracurricular programs, as well as the community.
“The reality is we’ve got a number of extracurricular activities and limited space in which to do those,” Dunlap superintendent Scott Dearman said Thursday morning. “The location is key to me; it’s in close proximity to the high school, similar to our football field, kids can walk there.
“… You need to have something that they can access fairly easily and so that corner property, thank goodness we own it, fits the bill pretty well.”
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Construction costs will come from "current (district) reserves," said Dearman. The Dunlap Training Center would address athletic space issues, as well as give the school additional parking. The board is expected to vote on this project at the school board meeting July 17.
What is in the Dunlap Training Center project?
The submitted plan for the 283-by-150-foot building includes three full-size basketball courts, a 165-meter indoor track with an area for long jump and pole vault, a golf simulator, a dance studio, a storage room, restroom/locker room areas, a small office and a training room.
Dearman says it will be a community-use facility; the district will partner with Dunlap youth recreational programs to use the facility.
“It’s not really going to be built as an educational facility because we’re OK in that regard,” Dearman said, “I don’t see it being utilized a whole lot during the day during the school year, but I could see it (used) from basically from 2:30 to 10 o’clock every night.
“… It’s not a fieldhouse, so it’s not going to be built to sustain a whole lot of spectators.”
Dunlap has 'outgrown' its current facilities
Dunlap's high school gyms are continuously in use, said Dearman, including one outfitted with artificial turf in the District Activity Center (DAC).
Dunlap’s district-wide growing enrollment, projected to hit 5,000 students in the next five years, has led to every aspect of its athletic facilities bursting at the seams.
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During a five-month stretch of this school year, Dunlap had a combined 185 practices held before the school day, and still had some starting after 6 p.m. on school nights, according to information in the presentation. Teams such as cheerleading, dance, cross country and track and field used hallways for practices and often interrupted each other.
“(The DAC) serves its purpose,” Dearman said, “but we’ve just outgrown it.”
Dunlap in the last seven years also has added varsity and junior varsity lacrosse programs in boys and girls, along with boys and girls wrestling. This has caused further demand for practice space.
Strategic planning meetings in 2022 picked up following a pandemic-induced hiatus. Once those talks resumed, the realistic vision of additional practice space came into view.
“This really has been two years in the making,” Dearman said.
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: Dunlap High School discussing $8.5 million training center building
