City to re-assess Walltown, Trinity Ave. pools -- adding funding for South Durham rec center to boot

Ray Gronberg of the Herald-Sun had some of his usual good work in the daily fishwrap on Monday, covering Mayor Bell's wise interest in reopening the most painful scab on the post-Thomas Stith City Council when it comes back together in August.

To wit: an evaluation of how the proposed Walltown Park pool and the City's acquisition of the old Trinity Ave. YMCA from Duke might actually be able to "complement each other."

[A]dministrators of late have also talked up the idea of including splash pools and other kid-friendly amenities in the project. That and the potential addition of Duke's pool to the mix has Bell wondering if the plan for Walltown should change.

"My first thought was since we'd have an indoor pool at Trinity, maybe we could do with something different at Walltown that's maybe not as costly," Bell said, adding that one possibility is turning the Walltown project into an outdoor pool.

An outdoor pool could actually make some sense for a variety of reasons. The closure of the one at Duke Park still smarts in a number of local neighborhoods after so many years, and there remains only three for the whole city (at Long Meadow, Hillside and Forest Hills.) Yet these remain popular outdoor options especially for kids and families.

And in the case of Walltown, that's what the whole point of the approved rec center and proposed pool are intended to be: creating positive options for youth and teens outside of the dangerous, easy draws of mischief.

It's a plan that could fit in better in a scheme where Trinity Ave. focuses on seniors and physical therapy, with the also-nearby Edison Johnson indoor pool providing access for water sports and recreation alike.

All three locations are accessible to central and North Durham alike, meeting a range of regional needs.

Left out too often in these discussions has been South Durham, which as we (contentiously) looked at here last year, is perhaps the most heavily-populated and certainly the fastest-growing distal area in Durham to lack a recreation center of its own.

The addition of such a center has sat on a bookshelf for years collecting dust, being listed as a non-funded project even on the Durham Capital Improvements Program web site (which hasn't been updated with FY09 materials yet.)

Well, that's changed, at least in a small way. The FY09 CIP passed by the City Council includes $889,102 in funding for land acquisition for a future rec center site in South Durham.

The nearly-$1 million comes all from impact fees and recreation payments-in-lieu. (The former are paid in by developers on a per-unit basis to support city recreation facilities; the latter made when developers pay the city instead of providing on-site recreation. Both programs, to my knowledge, are intended to funnel back fees raised into the geographical area where they were collected.)

According to Beth Timson in Durham's Parks & Rec department, no site has been chosen yet, although the department is reportedly looking at several locations for such a structure.

On the flip side, no funding has been identified for the actual development of such a facility, a project which is expected to require $3.5 million for planning and design and $15 million for construction, figures that would be expected to include a pool and gymnasium.

It's well within the City's typical strategy to make land purchases sooner than later to protect the municipality from escalating property acquisition costs. The bigger question will end up being, where does the other eighteen-and-a-half million smackaroos come from?

Comments

[barry]

Didn't the Mayor just twist a whole boatload of arms to make sure that the $1 million to design the Walltown pool was included in the current budget?

Now we're going to take another look at "doing something different at Walltown?"

Why do we even bother with a budget or a CIP? Why not just build whatever shiny new thing comes floating into our vision each month?

[Tinomuvonga]

"A project which is expected to require $3.5 million for planning and design and $15 million for construction."

This seems to me like too much money for Durham to spend on a pool. Would anyone care to shed light on why the numbers seems so high? Would this be a typical figure for a the building of a pool?

Tinomuvonga

[Bull City Rising]

@Tinomuvonga: That $18.5 million number includes planning and construction costs for a recreation center (gym, etc.) as well as a pool. The total number seems high to me, too, but I'm no expert. I'm sure if this comes before Council, Eugene Brown will be able to compare it on a per sq. ft. basis to medical facilities and bio-research lab costs elsewhere in the southeast....

[Mike]

Can't we finish the park projects we've had in the works since the late 90's. Seriously why isn't Northgate Park finished yet? Come on Mr. Bell and City council let's get some work done before we start more projects!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Michael Bacon]

Eugene Brown has repeatedly complained that the Walltown rec center is going to cost $400/sq. ft. when it's done, which as he points out, will be the most expensive rec center in the southeast per unit area. (The presence of George Williams, Howard Clement's brother-in-law, as architect always looks suspicious to me.)

But as to who deserves the rec center more, Walltown has been waiting on this one since the 50s. And for Northgate Park being finished, after stopping by just a couple of weeks ago, will the renovations involve the removal of all of the old heavy metal pipe recreation equipment? Because I guess I really like all of that equipment, and was hoping that they'd add the new plasticky stuff but leave the old metal stuff there too.

[Mike]

Michael I'm not sure about the removal of the old equipment. I also like the old metal pieces as it reminds me of my youth. What I'm upset about is how long this has taken. I'm mean seriuosly it's a fricking playground how much money are we willing to waste while we wait and wait and wait.

As for Walltown, yes they need something but this project looks very suspicous to me.

[crc32]

As a resident of Walltown, I'm looking forward to the new rec center (though I may not be in Walltown to see it). I do, however, question the wisdom of adding a pool to the mix. It's an extremely expensive prospect, and one that is not well-supported by any market studies I am aware of. A few vocal community members deeply desire the pool, but why? Durham is being given a pool on Trinity Ave (just a short walk to Walltown), and Walltown could use that space for better purposes, more cheaply. Several versions of the rec center plans are spectacular (though being done by different architects), and something should be built - but the pool is excessive and unnecessary.

[barry]

right - but shouldn't we have been talking about this before the budget was passed? what's the point of having a budget if you don't, you know, follow it?

[Tina]

Like Tinomuvonga, I question some of the dollar estimates on building these rec centers and pools. But I admittly lack knowlege in this scale of building. Walltown has a budget of 10 million for the rec center and another $1 million for pool planning (not building). Since Walltown will happen sooner than any sort of rec center in So. Durham maybe they are estimating that it will cost more for So. Durham due to inflation.

As a resident of So. Durham I am extremely pleased to hear they are talking about building a rec center down here. There are some parks and rec offerings that we miss out on because by the time the kids get out of school we can't make across town in time to participate.

If they build the So. Durham Rec Center close enough to RTP I envision employees from RTP taking advange of the facilities before & after work and lunch breaks. And for those who live outside of Durham they will have to pay an extra fee. All of this may in the long term help the parks and rec bottom line.

Now if the City and County could some how come together and buy land down here in So. Durham big enough for both a rec center and for much needed schools this would be amazing. And probably quite a cost savings to tax payers.

[tina]

Micheal, I love that old metal equiptment too. I'm not sure if this is an issue here in Durham, but where I moved from it became a health concern. Alot of the old metal stuff was painted in the 60s with lead paint, which was chipping off. The city found that in a lot of cases it was cheaper to scrap the old and put in new plastic rather than deal w/ the lead abatement. I hope that's not an issue here!!

[Todd]

Durham needs more indoor pools. Swim classes for kids at Edison Johnson fill up within hours of when registration opens - there are just not enough spots available for a city our size.

I also have no issue with Walltown getting a rec center if it can be designed and built for a reasonable price comparable to rec centers in Chapel Hill or Cary or Raleigh.

However, an indoor pool should not be built at Walltown. Both Edison Johnson and Trinity Ave are within a mile or less of Walltown.

Edison Johnson is more than 7 miles from my home in NW Durham. If an indoor pool was built at the city park closest to my home - Valley Springs - it would still be 3 miles from my home.

These facilities need to be distributed widely across the city to serve all residents somewhat equally - not concentrated in one small section of town.

[Marianne]

And they're going to/have already closed the pool at the Lakewood Y, which is truly a thing of beauty, with the old tile etc. It would be nice if this were still in commission.