Open House and Dedication of  New Parks & Recreation Facility

Columbia Parks and Recreation is holding an open house and dedication of the Hillcrest Community Center and Moss Building at the Waters-Moss Wildlife Memorial Area on August 28, 4-6 p.m., with the dedication ceremony at 4:30 p.m.

 The City of Columbia took over management of the Waters-Moss property in June 2012 as part of a land swap agreement with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). Under that agreement, MDC built new regional offices on 18.5 acres of the Gans Creek Recreation Area.

Parks and Recreation construction crews renovated two of the buildings on the Waters-Moss site for recreational use: Hillcrest Community Center (1907 Hillcrest Dr) was formerly the MDC offices and the Moss Building (1905 Hillcrest Dr) was formerly a maintenance garage. The buildings now house many of Parks and Recreation’s life enrichment classes, preschool programs, 50+ programs and travel, and Osher Lifelong Learning classes, which are held in partnership with University of Missouri Extension.

Parks and Recreation is constructing an outdoor park at Waters-Moss, which will feature a playground, medium-sized shelter and restroom. Another building on the site, the Waters house, will be renovated to accommodate the department’s park ranger station.

Funding for the project came from the voter-approved Park Sales Tax and the department’s Recreation Services Fund.

Info: Columbia Parks and Recreation, 573-874-7460.