ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 9, 1996 TAG: 9605090030
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
Town Council voted Tuesday night to proceed with plans for a new recreation building - sans swimming pool for now - ignoring two council candidates who wanted the vote delayed.
The town is building an all-new recreation center on the site of the old Lowe's building at North Franklin and Cambria streets. Plans call for the center to have four regulation-size basketball courts and shuffleboard courts.
A pool is in phase three of the town's 10-year recreation plan. Some residents wanted it moved up in the schedule.
The 4-0 vote, with Mayor Harold Linkous and Councilman Wayne Booth absent and Jack Via acting as nonvoting mayor, came about an hour after polls closed in a race for three Town Council seats. The future of recreation facilities was a chief topic of the campaign: the challengers who called for a stepped-up recreation plan were the losers Tuesday; the two incumbents and one challenger who called for a go-slow approach won.
Tuesday's vote came after Town Manager John Lemley told council an Olympic-sized pool with eight lanes would cost $2.04 million to construct, not including engineering costs and a walkway between the recreation center and the pool.
Comparatively, a six-lane indoor pool cost Blacksburg $1.7 million to construct five years ago, Lemley said. Additionally, Blacksburg estimates yearly operating costs at $200,619 with about one-third of that subsidized by the town and the balance by user fees.
Two candidates for election - who ultimately lost their bids - had asked council to delay its vote until more citizen polling was done on whether a pool is wanted, or at least until after election results were known.
But Truman Daniel, who is retiring from council, made a motion to authorize Lemley and architectural and engineering staff to continue with the design of the recreational facility and put together a package to go out to bid.
"We need more [facilities] because we're overcrowded," Daniel said.
Daniel said the plan to build four basketball courts at the new center is not overambitious, because all available courts are used now and some groups are turned away. New recreational facilities also are needed for the town's very active senior population, he said.
"It's beholden upon us that we need to get the recreation center going right now. We don't have time left to wait. We've needed it for a long time," Daniel said.
Daniel said a comprehensive recreation plan adopted in December 1994 with public input had the pool in the long range and it should stay there.
Members Eddie Lester, Scott Weaver and Ann Carter supported Daniel's motion.
"I think we need to proceed. This has gone on long enough," Carter said. The pool can be considered later on, she added. "Anything ... to delay this is really hurting all of us."
The town's recreation program has grown dramatically in recent years, and facilities have not kept pace. The town uses school facilities for programs and play, but school activities have priority, meaning town recreation users sometime have limited opportunities.
Council hopefuls Rocco Capozzi, Jay Newman and Bob Abraham said they were disappointed with council's decision.
Council's move to buy the Lowe's building for $1.4 million came as a surprise last year. Originally, a new recreation center was recommended for Depot Street, which is closer to downtown. The purchase brought ridicule when the roof of the Lowe's building collapsed during a record-setting January snowstorm.
But revised plans unveiled last month call for the structure to be razed and a new center built.
Capozzi had urged council to slow down and consider options on the recreation center by conducting a citizens' poll. He said a previous poll that got 10 percent response was "less than representative."
Abraham wanted the vote delayed until after election results were known. Outside after the meeting, he wondered why a town pool couldn't be built first.
The town has no swimming facility [though the Montgomery County outdoor public pool near Christiansburg is scheduled to reopen this spring after a two-year shutdown for repairs] while there are basketball courts, he said. Most basketball courts are used by young to middle-aged men, Abraham said, while a year-round pool would benefit men and women of all ages.
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