Here's what people are saying about planned Columbia Agriculture Park welcome center

The final piece of bringing an urban agriculture park to Columbia soon will slot into place.

The Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture since 2017 has worked to transform Clary-Shy Park on West Ash Street. Following the construction of greenhouses, fields for growing produce, demonstration gardens, a gardening education space and more, all adjacent to the University of Missouri Health Care Pavilion that is home to the Columbia Farmers Market, all that is needed is a welcome center.

CCUA and Columbia Parks and Recreation held a joint open house Tuesday to present a building layout and interior and exterior artist-rendered views to gain community member feedback.

"This is the last stretch of the public-private partnership to develop this park," said Adam Saunders, CCUA capital campaign director.

Plans for the building are expected to go before the Parks and Recreation Commission in March, then to the Columbia City Council Council, likely at its April 15 meeting. If it passes through the council, Parks and Recreation then can put the welcome center project out for bid, which will take a couple of months. A groundbreaking would likely happen in the late summer or early autumn, and construction will take roughly 18 months. So, by either late 2025 or early 2026, Columbia's agriculture park will be relatively complete. There is still space for CCUA to increase urban farming production in the future.

"(CCUA) is an amazing organization. They put their mind to something and they make it happen," said Mike Snyder, Parks and Recreation park development superintendent. "It's kind of a three-way partnership with us, CCUA and Columbia Farmers Market. ... The three organizations working together has made this one of the coolest facilities in the country."

The last funding hurdle was jumped in July when CCUA was awarded $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds from Boone County toward construction, which is part of the myriad of public-private sources.

"Forty-six percent was privately fundraised for the (agriculture park) project as a whole. This is the last step of that," Saunders said. "There still is some more fundraising that we will do to finish out the park. There is always more to do."

The welcome center will feature an event space, catering and production kitchens, office space for CCUA and Columbia Farmers Market staff, a community conference room and a resource library, where people can even check out gardening tools. Tool lending is through a partnership with the Daniel Boone Regional Library, Saunders said.

"A library of things. Our library is interested in that and this a great hub for however many thousands of people come here every Saturday, so let's go where the people are. It's been a good strategy," he said.

The on-site kitchen will be a significant boon for farmers who are looking to create value-added products from their produce, said Corrina Smith, Columbia Farmers Market director.

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"We are really excited to have that addition and resource," she said, noting she also is excited about having on-site office space after working from her home for 11 years. "We are excited to have a space where we could grow our team.

"As the agriculture park itself, there are so many amazing things we are doing here, but to be able to have this hub where it pulls it all together will be really valuable for the whole site."

The welcome center will be a "tremendous addition" to Clary-Shy Park and the whole community, said Columbia resident Karen Morrison. Other community members at the meeting had similar sentiments.

"I am really pleased to see it. The resource library and tool library, I'm going to enjoy tremendously. The event space is going to be a nice addition and it's a lovely setting," she said noting the proximity to the city's Activity and Recreation Center. "It supports their mission of health and fitness."

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Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Welcome center final piece of Columbia Agriculture Park development