Not Just Another Gym

By Adam Belz
The Gazette
January 31, 2008

CEDAR RAPIDS - The people invited to think about a new recreation center here told consultants last night they'd like the city to have more baseball and soccer fields.

They want the facility to be environmentally sustainable and easily accessible for older people. They'd like a place where people can relax, sit and watch people, walk, swim or play indoor tennis.

They want such a center to be cool.

"None of our recreation facilities have any cool factor," said Lee Clancey, president of the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce.

In meetings all day Wednesday, consultants from Williams Architects of Carol Stream, Ill., launched the nine-month planning process for the proposed center. The process will include market analysis, surveys and open houses. A report will go to government officials at the end of October.

More than three years ago, a new community center ranked ninth on the list of 15 things Cedar Rapids residents said they want to see completed within five years. The $120,000 feasibility study was commissioned by Planning Lifelong Activities for You, or PLAY, a task force that grew out of the Fifteen in 5 initiative.

About 30 people, most of them affiliated with government or government-related groups, met with the consultants last night at the Ambroz Recreation Center, 2000 Mount Vernon Rd. SE, to talk about what they'd like in an indoor and outdoor recreation center.

"We're going into this with no preconceived notions," said Phil Wasta of Cedar Rapids, a volunteer on the PLAY committee.

Wasta said getting the support of older adults for such a center is critical. Whatever the report eventually says, a quality recreation center will easily cost $10 million, he said.

Funding won't be addressed any time soon, but a local-option sales tax has been mentioned before, and several at last night's meeting agreed that government cooperation will be important.

"I don't think there's any one single entity within Linn County that can fund it," said Nick Wagner, a former City Council member in Marion. "It has to be a regional approach."

Wasta said the consultants will create a plan that can be done in phases.

"In reality, I think we'll have to walk before we run," he said.

To get the public involved in the planning process, consultants will hold open houses three times over the next nine months. The first is scheduled for March 12 and 13.

Also, a survey on a new recreation center will be mailed to residents in April, with the goal of obtaining 500 responses.