Batavians discuss plans for rec center

BATAVIA – Memberships would pay for the operation of a proposed $36 million community recreation and aquatics center at Harold Hall Quarry Beach, park district officials said Wednesday.

“The goal is not to go for referendum for operations, that revenues will offset what it will cost to run the facility,” Batavia Park District Executive Director Mike Clark told residents Wednesday during a informational meeting about the Nov. 4 referendum.

But Batavia resident Brian Lewis is skeptical.

“Are there enough people that are going to use this to offset expenses?” Lewis asked. “There’s a ton of competition.”

Residents on Nov. 4 will vote on whether the park district should borrow $36 million to build a community recreation and aquatics center at Harold Hall Quarry Beach.

Out of 15 potential locations, the park district chose it as the most viable site for the project.

As proposed, the beach would be totally redeveloped and the outdoor pool would be upgraded. The proposed 80,000-square-foot center would include an indoor pool featuring two bodies of water separated by a full height glass wall.

The building also would include a weight fitness center, three-court gymnasium, an elevated jogging track, and other amenities.

Batavia resident Irene Anderson said she was concerned about how the project would impact the quarry.

“I would love a rec center, but I really feel bound into a corner,” she said. “How many towns have a quarry like that? I think it is just a piece of history I would like preserved.”

Park district officials said the historical character of the quarry is being taken in account. Stone and wood would be used in the project, and the old diving tower would be recreated in the new pool design.

A lazy river will wrap around the new building, bringing the pool to the front door of the new recreation facility.

“It’s kind of a balance between preservation and progress,” Clark said.

Repairs to the quarry would cost more than $1 million, with fractures in the limestone causing a daily loss of about 250,000 gallons of water, Park Board Commissioner Alan Leard said.

And due to a continuing decrease in attendance, Leard said that the quarry will put the park district about $38,000 in the red this fiscal year.

“The quarry isn’t even paying its way,” Leard said.

Figures provided by the park district show that if voters approve the referendum, the project would cost a taxpayer with a home valued at $100,000 an extra $58.14 a year and an additional $229.43 a year for a resident with a $350,000 valued home.

The earliest bidding would go out for the new center would be in 2009 and construction is expected to take at least 16 months.

Information meetings on referendum set for 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 9 and 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Civic Center, 327 W. Wilson St., Batavia.