Plans are still on track for teams of all sorts to be squaring off in the city’s new Rock Chalk Park recreation center by the first week of September.

But in the meantime, project leaders are engaged in another type of struggle: keeping water out of the 181,000 square foot building.

City commissioners at their Tuesday evening meeting are being asked to approve about $48,000 worth of building changes designed to address leakage, seepage and humidity problems in the recreation center.

City officials are being asked to pay for the entire cost of the improvements, which include some additional concrete along the exterior base of the building and flashing along several wall joints. The concrete and flashing were not specifically called for in the building’s design documents. At the moment, city officials are more concerned about the water than the costs. City Manager David Corliss said the city has a development agreement that caps the costs at $22.5 million for the recreation center and infrastructure work that will serve the center and adjacent projects in Rock Chalk Park. The $48,000 in change order work won’t cause that cap to be exceeded, he said.

But water inside the recreation center could create significant problems for the eight wooden gymnasium courts that will be in the center. Already the water levels have created humidity problems that have stopped the wood for the floors from being delivered to the site.

Mark Hecker, the city’s assistant director of parks and recreation, said he believes the city is taking the right steps to get the humidity levels under control now. He said wood flooring is scheduled to be delivered this week. He said once the initial humidity levels are brought down in the building, he’s confident humidity won’t create long-term buckling or warping problems for the floor.

According to a city memo, much of the water seepage problems involve an approximately four-foot wide strip of gravel and soil around the edge of the building. The area is allowing water to pond up around the building, which in turn is allowing water to seep under the walls and into the building. Recent rains also caused several joints along the exterior concrete walls to seep, the memo said.