PARKING GARAGE VIEWED AT SOUTHEAST; BUILDING CONSIDERED WHERE BAND PRACTICES

Southeast Missouri State University's practice band field may one day be home to a parking garage.

The university's Golden Eagles Marching Band may end up practicing on artificial turf at Houck Stadium, said Dr. Ken Dobbins, Southeast's executive vice president. Dobbins will become the school's 17th president on July 1.

The Board of Regents at its June 30 meeting will discuss tearing out Houck Stadium's grass field and replacing it with artificial turf. Dobbins said head football coach John Mumford wants an artificial turf, and the university's Booster Club also has talked about the issue.

Dobbins said Southeast would need federal money to build the parking garage. The university has talked with Missouri Department of Transportation staff about the possibility of securing federal transportation money through the state.

Dobbins said it could take several years before the university can secure federal funding.

Southeast previously had talked about building a parking garage along New Madrid Street near the Student Recreation Center in conjunction with plans to build a transit way for the school's shuttle buses. Southeast has secured federal funding for the transit way, but so far no money has been obtained for a parking garage.

Southeast plans to spend about $900,000 over the next fiscal year on building a pathway for the shuttle buses that would run through the heart of campus from the Dempster Hall parking lot and Greek Drive area south to the area behind Academic Hall.

The project includes removing a water tower near the Art Building. The tennis courts along Henderson would be removed to make room for the transit way and parking. The school plans to build tennis courts at Bertling and Sprigg.

Eighty percent of the transit project would be funded with federal money funneled through the Missouri Department of Transportation, said Al Stoverink, the school's facilities management director.

Southeast will pay 20 percent or $180,000.

The project would allow Southeast's shuttle buses to move through the center of campus rather than on heavily traveled city streets on the perimeter, Stoverink said.

Even with a transit way, there still would be a need for more parking, school officials said.

Many students park on city streets bordering the campus and in Capaha Park, areas that aren't served by the campus buses.

Dobbins said the practice band field might be the best site for a parking garage. It sits at the bottom of a hill near the center of campus. Brandt Hall, where music classes are held, sits atop the hill to the south of the field.

Dobbins said the topography lends itself to building a parking garage in which motorists would enter from the top level.

Southeast plans to develop its River Campus over the next three years. The music department, along with theatre, art and dance, would move to the River Campus.

The River Campus is on the site of old St. Vincent's Seminary along the Mississippi River.

Building any parking garage is expensive, said Stoverink. University officials estimated in 1998 that it would cost more than $7 million to build a multilevel parking garage near the Student Recreation Center.

Dobbins said the parking garage instead could be built at the practice band field, but that's only a suggestion at this point. Stoverink said no planning has been done for such a project.

Barry Bernhardt, who directs the Golden Eagles Marching Band, said the band field would be a good site for a parking garage. The university, he said, needs more parking spaces.

Bernhardt welcomed the possibility that the band could practice on artificial turf at Houck Stadium.

"We want a rehearsal facility on the main campus," he said. That would be more convenient for all band members, including those who aren't music majors, Bernhardt said.

He said the band's practice field should be on the main campus to accommodate all band members, including those who aren't music majors.

Band practices are held three days a week. The Golden Eagles rehearse on the grass practice field and on the grass field at Houck Stadium.

But the stadium practices currently are limited to an hour on Fridays before Saturday home games. Artificial turf would allow the band to practice on the field on a regular basis, Bernhardt said.