Is swim center worth the cost?
GREENSBORO — Sometimes, you have to spend money to make money.
But in the case of a planned aquatics center, which proponents say would dwarf other competitive swim facilities on the East Coast and pump $14 million into the city’s economy in one year, the question is how much taxpayers can afford.
After a public hearing set for Dec. 1, the City Council will vote on whether to go ahead with a $17.4 million, three-pool complex on the grounds of the coliseum complex.
Voters approved $12 million in 2008 for a community swim center, with the expectation that private partnerships would make up the fund balance. But other than a commitment for an electronic scoreboard, this has not occurred.
Among the council’s options: To proceed with the more ambitious plan for a metal and glass facility built to accommodate 2,000 people and draw national meets with a competition-size pool, warmup pool and dive pool; or scale back to a $12 million competitive community swim center, about half the size of the larger plan.
On the “pro” side of the more ambitious plan, supporters argue that a first-rate competition facility could easily capture a niche for Greensboro, doing what Bryan Park did for youth soccer and what an expanded Greensboro Coliseum did for ACC basketball.
“The lifeline to the Greensboro hospitality industry is youth sports,” James Belk, chairman of the Guilford County Tourism Development Authority, told the City Council in a briefing last week.
“Youth sports are recession-proof. Parents will travel to their children’s competitions.”
Though the project appears to have broad support from the council, which voted last week to fund debt service from future hotel-motel taxes, two members raised points on the “con” side.
The three-pool plan for a competitive aquatics facility, observed Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small, goes beyond the original idea of a community facility voters approved.
Bellamy-Small is seeking assurance that the center not be an “elitist” facility that becomes so heavily booked with competitive events that the people who built it — local taxpayers — won’t get to use it.
Councilwoman Trudy Wade, meanwhile, cautioned that the cost of maintaining such a facility had not been addressed. She argued that there should have been a more aggressive attempt to involve private sponsorship.
“Here we’re being left again with the taxpayers,” said Wade, evoking the case of the War Memorial Auditorium renovation. “Everybody wants it, but nobody wants to pay for it.”
One factor in the project’s favor, unexpectedly, is the recession itself.
After reducing the estimated cost by $2.4 million, the city also would save more than $2 million by using land and existing infrastructure at the coliseum.
“In a few years, we would be back up to $23, $24, $25 million when the prices of steel, concrete and masonry go back up,” said Butch Simmons, director of Engineering and Inspections. “What would really set us apart is that third pool.”
Richard Bober, a longtime competitive swimmer from Greensboro, noted that the top facility on the East Coast, in Fort Lauderdale, has been damaged by hurricanes, leaving an opening for what he called a “class A” facility.
Councilman Robbie Perkins said the original idea had been a “leap of faith” on the part of the council, a chance to bring what coliseum director Matt Brown called “an economic engine” to the ailing High Point Road corridor.
With youth sports and tourism growing industries amid otherwise discouraging economic news, Mayor Yvonne Johnson said, the project is an opportunity for the city.
“It strengthens our position as a tournament town,” Johnson said. “I bet we would exceed the $14 million (estimated economic impact.) But $14 million’s all right by me.”
Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lorraine.ahearn@news-record.com
Accompanying Photos
WANT TO GO?
What: Public hearing on aquatics center
When: 4 p.m. Dec. 1
Where: Council Chambers, Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St., Greensboro
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