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Kyle rec centerPosted November 22, 2007, 7:30 a.m.
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Hays Highway Editor
KYLE – It’s not a foregone conclusion that Kyle will build a recreational center, since the bonding authority to build such a facility for up to $20 million will rest with the voters within the next couple years.
It is, however, a foregone conclusion that the city government will push a recreation center for as long as it takes, which means that if the voters demur, the city will persist. Based on the city's timeline for developing a recreation center, a bond election is in the cards for November 2009.
To the possibility that a bond election might fail, Kyle Parks and Recreation Director Kerry Urbanowicz said Tuesday night, "Then, we'll just keep going back to the voters."
The city laid crucial groundwork for a recreation center Tuesday night, accepting a committee recommendation on a 13.5-acre site, then going so far as to purchase an adjoining 10 acres to expand the facility's footprint, then approving $65,000 for preliminary engineering.
Now with 23.5 acres near the intersection of Beebe Road and Dacy Lane targeted for the project, the city wishes to build a comprehensive recreation center on a hilltop and surround it with baseball and soccer fields. Another adjacent parcel of 19.2 acres is available for $450,000. If the city adds that piece, the facility will cover nearly 43 acres.
The city council accepted the site recommendation following a presentation by recreation center committee member Jo An Zimmermann, who the committee appointed to speak on its behalf. Zimmerman discussed the various factors involved in recommending the site, which lies between the coming Seton Hospital and Chapa Middle School.
The other finalist, a ten-acre site on Bunton Creek Lane across from Kyle's East Side fire station, missed the cut over concerns about price and size. Zimmerman explained that the Bunton land would cost $217,800 per acre, a total outlay of nearly $2.2 million for the ten-acre site. By contrast, the Beebe-Dacy site already belonged to the city as dedicated parkland.
A moment of counter-intuition favored the Bunton site, because the site actually chosen is located in the city's northeast quadrant. However, Zimmerman and Urbanowicz argued that their demographic information projects the chosen location near the city's population midpoint.
Councilmember Dan Ekakiadis registered strong objections to the site near Beebe and Dacy, saying the land isn't worthy of the project and that the city shouldn't be too worried about the Bunton land price, considering the scope of the rec center.
"If we're going to build a $16-20 million project, you don't skimp on land," Ekakiadis said.
However, Ekakiadis was decidedly outnumbered on the issue as others argued that $2 million saved on land could be invested in the plant.
"It is near where the population center will be," Councilmember Michelle Lopez said of the chosen site. "It's also going to be close to our retail and people will be able to come over from there and be a part of our rec center community."
Said Councilmember Ray Bryant in his first city council performance since winning election on Nov. 6, "If we go to the other site, we stifle our opportunity for growth."
The city council voted, 5-1, in favor of the committee's recommendation, with only Ekakiadis opposing. Councilmember Mike Moore was absent.
After agreeing on the 13.5-acre site, the council authorized City Manager Tom Mattis to purchase the ten adjoining acres. The sellers, Alfonso and Hope Martinez, are willing to let the land go for $198,000 if the city will somehow attach their name to the project for posterity.
Later, the council gave Mattis authority to sign an agreement with Spawglass Contractors of Austin and Marmok Mol Architecture of San Antonio to collect data, conduct a needs analysis and focus the rec center project.
The approved $65,000 and the work so funded will comprise the first of five phases in the project's development. Following the analysis, the next three phases consist in a master plan, a schematic design, and the design development for up to half of the construction plans. The fifth phase is construction.
In his staff memo to Mattis, Urbanowicz advocated completing the first four phases by August 2009, then beginning construction after a successful bond election. Urbanowicz ballparked the pre-election outlay at $1.8 million to complete the first four phases.
The council is comfortable starting the engineers because that decision, in and of itself, doesn't commit the city to building the center, and it scopes the project so voters will know specifically what's at stake when they're asked to approve bonds.
"And if the voters don't approve, at least we'll have this work done for when they do," Gonzalez said.
City officials clearly believe it's a matter of when, rather than if.
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