THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 2, 1995 TAG: 9503010202
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
THANKS TO A GIFT from the Birdsong Trust Fund, Suffolk Family YMCA members this summer will get one of the items on their wish list: An outdoor swimming pool.
``This is going to be, I think, a valuable asset to the community,'' YMCA Director Edward J. Lee said this week.
Construction is expected to begin this month, with opening planned for Memorial Day, Lee said.
A 25-meter, six-lane pool with an adjacent wading pool and a bath house will be built next to the YMCA's main building, its fitness facility, on Godwin Boulevard on property donated by the Birdsong Trust.
The trust bought the 2.2 acres just north of the YMCA for $225,000 last year to protect the Y from encroachment by other development, said John C. Harrell, president of the trust.
``We didn't want to see a convenience store next door,'' Harrell said.
The gift greatly enhances the Y's ability to provide family recreation activities. ``This gives us flexibility in the future,'' said Lee, the Y director. ``The pool doesn't eat up all the land.''
Total cost of the pool project is $500,000, including the price of the land. The United Way will match the land cost in payments over the next five years. And with a bridge loan, the Y will begin construction immediately.
The Y had conducted a comprehensive study last year to determine community needs before starting its capitol improvements plan, Lee said.
The current facility is housed in two separate buildings on 7.3 acres. The fitness building, a former racket and swim club, has 22,000 square feet, and the child care building, a former skating rink, has 18,000 square feet.
But activities are limited in the existing facility. Besides the outdoor pool, the members want a larger indoor pool and an expanded cardio-vascular weight area, the study showed.
``We'll take the plan in phases,'' Lee said. ``The first phase will be the outdoor pool.''
A $1.5 million fund-raising campaign will be started this spring for the Y's long-range capital improvements plan. The campaign would include funding for the pool project and for the second phase, which would provide a 12,000-square-foot addition to connect the two buildings and renovation of the existing facility.
New construction would include a 25-meter, six-lane indoor pool, an expanded cardio/nautilus room and a new entrance, lobby and administrative offices.
The fitness building would be renovated to convert the existing indoor pool, which has only four lanes, into a gymnasium and to add sauna and steam rooms, a family lounge area and a free weight room.
The Suffolk Y has nearly 1,000 members, Lee said, and the outdoor pool is expected to push that well over the 1,000 mark. The Suffolk facility is part of the YMCA of South Hampton Roads, and its members share privileges in each of the other participating YMCAs in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.
The YMCA of South Hampton Roads started the Suffolk branch in 1987, with help from the Birdsong Trust. Including this latest gift, the trust has given more than $550,000 to the Suffolk Y since its beginnings.
``Because of good leadership and a need, it's been very successful,'' Harrell said. ``It's gone beyond our expectations.''
The local Y is greatly indebted to the generosity of the trust, Lee said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
John Harrell, left, president of Birdsong Trust, and Edward J. Lee,
director of the Suffolk YMCA, review the expansion plans. The trust
has donated funds that will make the pool possible.
by CNB