Between now and March 4, Emporians will be asked to support a brand-new public recreation facility at Champions Landing.
Steering Committee members voted unanimously to enter negotiations with property owner Jeremy Rusco as part of a meeting Wednesday, following conversations through most of Tuesday before a community engagement opportunity Tuesday evening. City Manager Trey Cocking was given authority to negotiate terms, pending the results of a special election in March, as part of the Emporia City Commission meeting that followed.
Committee Vice Chair Deon Morrow says the community showed a lot of support for that site as well.
Champions Landing was chosen instead of two other finalist sites, Jones Park and the Jones Aquatic Center. It was also chosen over Lowther North location due to anticipated costs of $3 million to $5 million for acquistion and demolition.
Amenities haven’t been finalized, but Morrow says there is a heavy emphasis on aquatics and multi-use courts.
If finalized, the new, nearly 100,000 square-foot building will replace the Lee Beran Recreation Center at 313 West Fourth, which has been in place since the late 1970s. This opens up the prospect for new uses at Lee Beran, according to Rec Commission Assistant Director for Business Jennifer Bennett.
Questions now include the exact state of Lee Beran and what renovation costs could entail, as well as the upcoming use of that building. Conversations have revolved around possibly turfing part of the space or removing the indoor pool, with another option of turning the space into a tech-heavy youth center.
Another question about the Champions Landing site is whether to have a Phase 2 that could help Emporia State athletics through an indoor sports practice facility or an indoor track.
With the site location now set, the Steering Committee will begin a public campaign to build support for the new, nearly 100,000 square-foot facility. Meanwhile, external partners BG Consultants, Kahler Slater and Hutton Corporation will begin designing the new space. The goal is to have architect renderings available to the public before Christmas and a special election on a sales tax funding mechanism March 4. Emporia city commissioners are also considering the creation of a Public Building Commission to issue bonds, in large part for the rec center.
8 pm Tuesday: Imagine the Future community workshop Tuesday provides helpful insight and time for clarity with major decision ahead for Rec Center Steering Community Wednesday
Emporia and area residents joined members of the Emporia Recreation Commission and Rec Center Steering Committee Tuesday night to help “Imagine the Future” of recreation in Emporia.
The steering committee’s Imagine the Future Community Workshop was just the latest step in the process of developing a new recreational facility in the community and follows the narrowing of site locations from last month. Currently, the committee is looking at three potential locations to house the new center Champions Landing, the Jones Aquatic Center and Jones Park.
The workshop came the evening before steering committee members are set to meet and possibly select the location for the project Wednesday morning. With that in mind, Steering Committee Co-Chair Erren Harter stated there are still a lot of questions from the community and while there are still answers to be decided, Tuesday night provided an opportunity to answer as many of those questions as possible in a more informal “public one on one setting.”
Co-Chair Aaron Trelc also spoke with KVOE News during the workshop and stated the evening was an opportunity to take “speculation” on the process and replace it with certainty amongst community members.
During Tuesday’s workshop, KVOE spoke with Bruce Boettcher of BG Consultants who, alongside Kahler Slater of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was selected as the project’s architect earlier this year. Boettcher says the community input he received Tuesday will be very helpful going forward noting that once a site is selected Wednesday they can take that feedback and begin more “detailed programming” with their designs.
In addition to the conversations on the future of new rec center, Assistant Director of Rec Operations Amanda Gutierrez stated there were also several discussions Tuesday evening on the future of the current Lee Beran Recreation Center. While it may no longer be able to contain the growing recreational needs of the community, as noted many times over the past several years, Gutierrez stated the facility can still be very valuable to the community.
Coupling that with the memories and history contained within the current facility Gutierrez believes that the start of a new era with a new facility does not have to mean the end of Lee Beran.
The Steering Committee’s meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 am inside the Lee Beran Recreation Center and is open to the public. We will have updates on the meeting and, possibly, a final site decision later today on KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media.
While the committee may settle the location of the new facility Wednesday, a funding source for said facility will be up to the citizens of Emporia as current plans are calling for a special election on a funding mechanism March 4. Emporia city commissioners are also in the early stages of researching a Public Building Commission with the authority to issue bonds to help fund the project.