Some Lecompton officials want to build the town a swimming pool of its own.

City officials on Wednesday are expected to unveil plans for building a pool on a city-owned, 3-acre site on Clark Street, near the water tower.

The project is expected to cost about $700,000.

“This is something that’s been needed in our community for quite some time,” said city council member Nancy Howard, chairwoman of the committee that’s been studying the prospects for a pool. “Not everybody plays baseball.”

Howard and others will discuss the committee’s findings at 7 p.m. at the Community Building in Lecompton.

“I hope a lot of people come to the meeting,” she said. “We want to get the word out.”

To finance the project, city officials plan on applying for a $400,000 community development grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing. If they get the grant, they’ll set aside a portion of the pool’s sales-tax revenues to finance the remaining costs.

If the grant goes elsewhere, Howard said they would postpone construction and look for other funding.

“A lot depends on getting the grant,” Howard said.

The city’s grant writer, Donna Crawford, has warned Howard and others not to count on getting the grant.

“This is one of the most difficult grants to get out of the Department of Commerce and Housing,” said Crawford, a project manager with Governmental Assistance Services, a Lawrence consulting firm.

“To my knowledge, they’ve never approve a grant like this for a swimming pool, but we’ll see,” she said.

The city’s grant application is due in October. State officials are expected to award the grants in early to mid- 2003.

If approved, Howard said the pool could be operational by 2004.

The proposed pool has its critics.

“How can a small town like Lecompton afford a $700,000 swimming pool?” asked council member Roy Paslay. “I’m against it.”