Phase I of a future recreation center in College Station is complete following Thursday’s City Council meeting. City staff was directed to move forward with Phase II and work on designs, cost analysis and possible future locations.
During an October council meeting, city staff approved a contract with Brinkley Sargent Wiginton Architecture to conduct a market analysis of similar recreation centers and determine whether the public needs such a center. In January, citizens provided feedback on the amenities they would want in a recreation center if one were built. Data was also collected from surveys sent by mail and administered through multiple platforms, according to the city.
Jennifer Cain, Director of Capital Projects and Facilities Management, introduced Steven Springs, representative of Brinkley Sargent Wiginton Architecture, who discussed the current schedule for the center.
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“Phase I can be thought of as a discovery process. That means we do our homework and present the results to you so you can decide whether we move forward or not,” he said. “As architects, our role in Phase I is really just to manage the process. In Phase II, we do the harder work if you decide to do it.”
Springs then introduced Lisa Paradis, recreation consultant at BerryDunn, who elaborated on the survey results.
“We held 11 discovery sessions, conducted 30 focus groups with city leaders and staff, and as part of public engagement, we held seven focus groups with 40 representative participants representing various stakeholders identified to us by parks and recreation leadership,” she said. “We also held two public open houses attended by 39 participants.”
Paradis said her findings confirmed that there was a need for a recreation center in the community and that residents were interested in a facility that could host several different programs or events.
“The top five (responses) I highlighted here are adult fitness and wellness programs, special interest classes, special community events, arts and crafts programs, and nature-themed environmental education programs,” she said.
At previous city council meetings, staff expressed concerns that a new recreation center would directly compete with local businesses and amenities. According to Paradis’ presentation, a recreation center could fill gaps in the market without competing with the eight multi-use facilities in Bryan and College Station.
These facilities include the Legends Event Center, Lincoln Recreation Center, Meyer Senior and Community Center, Neal Recreation Center, Powersports, Southwood Community Center, and Texas A&M Student Recreation Center. Of the eight facilities listed, three are city facilities.
Paradis said her department examined visitor and mobility data to determine the target market for a leisure center.
“The average distance to other facilities was less than 3 miles for 30% of people and between 3 and 6 miles or up to 10 miles for 65% overall,” she said. “Texas A&M’s recreational facilities are student-focused and not used very frequently by the public. Although there are 1.2 million visits annually, as you can imagine, that is primarily students, faculty and staff.”
In summary, Paradis said the overall results showed that the College Station Parks Recreation Department offers very limited opportunities for indoor recreation and that as the community grows, the indoor facilities provided by the city could expand their service offerings to meet the increased demand.
“College Station offers fewer amenities than peer communities,” she said. “We have a lot more information, but we’ve heard from the public and learned from peers that there needs to be more opportunities for indoor recreational activities.”
After the presentation, Councilman Bob Yancy said he respectfully agreed with many of the findings, but disagreed on some areas.
“I saw the survey you sent out, and it did not include the question, ‘Should the city of College Station build a recreation center?'” he said. “When it comes to the number of indoor recreation opportunities, you could tell us we have a complete lack of indoor facilities, and I’ll take that as fact. But what your study does not tell us is what the citizens of College Station want. Do they want us to spend $20, $30, $40 million on a recreation center?”
Springs addressed the concerns, saying the question was certainly addressed in the survey.
“The survey actually asks, ‘Are your needs being met in College Station?’ across a whole list of criteria. It doesn’t directly ask the question you’re asking, but it asks the flip side of that question. Do you think your family is being well taken care of?” Springs said.
Two city councilors, William Wright and Yancy, were not in favor of moving on to the second phase of the project, both citing concerns about costs.
“I’m still not really convinced that we really need this. Other than attending an initial meeting a few years ago where the YMCA gave a presentation, no one in the public has come up to me and said they’re in favor of the recreation center,” Wright said. “I just don’t see that it’s really necessary.”
Councilwoman Linda Harvell was one of five councilors who voted in favor of moving on to the second phase of the project, as she expected many smaller details to be worked out in the future.
“If we’re going to do something, let’s do it right. Let’s do it first-rate. Let’s do something that’s appropriate for all ages and all demographics, whether it’s young children, seniors or students,” she said. “This is our first step to see the details and everything else, so I’d be interested in us pursuing it.”
Five city councilors voted in favor of moving to Phase II, and Mayor John Nichols said it would be best to instruct staff to proceed with the second phase of the study.
“I don’t think it’s logical to pull out now,” he said. “I hope that in the next phase, you’ll look at ideas to expand existing facilities in one way or another, perhaps partnering with other companies that could help design, use and finance some parts of this facility. … I would say there’s a reasonable consensus to move forward with Phase II.”
