City poised to borrow $30 million for new rec center, ballfields
Mar. 5—A $42 million settlement with 3M Co. that city officials had once hoped would cover the cost of a planned Wilson Morgan Park recreation center and ballfields on Modaus Road Southwest will fall $30 million short, and a council majority supports going to the bond market for the additional funds.
Expanded plans for the Wilson Morgan rec center and park grounds have an estimated price tag of $55 million, which is $20 million above the amount earmarked for the project from the 3M settlement. The ballfields next to Austin High School now are expected to cost $17 million, which is $10 million more than the amount earmarked from the 3M settlement.
An architect's concept unveiled last week for the planned recreation center complex at Wilson Morgan Park includes basketball courts, a racquetball court, a walking track, an indoor swimming pool, a new playground and covered pickleball courts.
The mayor and four council members support going to the bond market for at least $30 million. Councilman Billy Jackson does not, and he said he fears the city's apparently strong financial position has more to do with inflation — which increases both tax revenue and costs — than fiscal health.
"I've been on council long enough that I've seen recessionary times where we had to have layoffs and where we had to cut back. So I don't know that we're in anywhere near the conservative posture that we need to be in when we're dealing with our citizens' dollars," Jackson said. "It's as if whatever this council decides we want to spend on, we just spend it. ... There seems to be no one willing to put on the brakes and say, 'Wait a minute, that's just too much.' I'm very concerned."
Council President Jacob Ladner disagrees.
"The conversations I've had (with CFO Kyle Demeester and the Finance Department), nobody's blinked at $30 million. If it was $34 million, $35 million, I don't think that would make a huge difference either," Ladner said. "We have a once-in-a-lifetime windfall from this settlement for this rec center. Looking at our debt service level in comparison to the rest of the state, we're very low, even though I know we just borrowed $20 million two years ago.
"When you look at surrounding communities they're very aggressive in borrowing money for projects that can attract new residents. I think we need to do that if the finances say we can." — Rec center plans
The initial outline of plans for the recreation center and Wilson Morgan grounds was included in an architectural contract with Birmingham-based Goodwyn Mills Cawood that will receive a vote Monday from the Decatur City Council.
The Goodwyn Mills contract lists the city's budget for the project as $55 million.
Councilman Carlton McMasters, the council liaison to the Parks and Recreation Department, said there's growing excitement about the project as it begins to take shape.
"When we initially started looking at it we were asking what's one thing we can do that the city can be proud of and that gives a common point for all types of recreational activities in the city. We think we've done a pretty good job," he said.
The preliminary description of the 100,000-square-foot rec center includes a 35,750-square-foot gymnasium and an 18,000-square-foot natatorium.
The gym would house four 84-foot basketball courts that can be used as eight volleyball courts, with retractable bleachers. It includes a three-lane walking track above the courts, cardio equipment and a racquetball court. The natatorium would include a 10-lane, 25-yard pool with raised bleachers and a separate therapeutic pool.
Another 30,000 square feet of the two-story rec center would house five offices, a conference room, a break room, restrooms, locker rooms, multi-use rooms, a community room and an entrance lobby. Parks & Recreation Director Jason Lake last week said the multi-use rooms provide space for expanded Parks & Rec programming.
"Also, we have so many people who are looking for places to do meetings or to rent a space for a company outing or maybe a family reunion. Any of those kinds of things work in these rooms," Lake said.
The project also includes substantial renovations to the rest of Wilson Morgan Park. In addition to the five existing ballfields — a sixth existing ballfield would be removed — the renovated park would include 12 covered pickleball courts, a courtyard surrounded on three sides by the rec center facility, extensive landscaping and new parking lots that would result in a total of 1,250 parking spaces.
McMasters said the preliminary plan would not remove the large parking lot in the center of the park, but would break it up with landscaping and trees.
A tree-lined boulevard would be built that curves through the park, connecting Sandlin Road Southwest and the access street parallel to Beltline Road.
Bob Gray with Goodwyn Mills said it would take about six months to complete the design of the building and grounds, additional time to bid the project out and then 20 months to two years to build the rec center and renovate the park. He estimated the project would be complete in about three years.
"It provides a big sense of community in one place, all in addition to the ballfields that are already there," McMasters said.
In the conceptual drawing, Goodwyn Mills has the rec center located in the northeast portion of the park, behind the large-dog park and displacing a portion of an existing soccer/football field.
"There's just a lot for everybody," McMasters said. "Plus the overall change to Wilson Morgan where you take away the asphalt jungle and you landscape it and hardscape it, and there's trees and there's more walking paths. I just think it's an overall great plan."
Ladner said it made little sense to build a nice recreation center in Wilson Morgan Park without renovations to the park.
"We could drop a $30 million rec center in the middle of an aging park, or you can build this rec center and really put a lot into the park as a whole," he said. "It can be a real gem for us going forward, and that's what people look for when they're moving to a new city." — Settlement money
The genesis of the plan stemmed from a $98.4 million settlement the city reached with 3M in 2021 over industrial contaminants, including toxins in a closed municipal landfill that lies beneath Aquadome Recreation Center and the former Brookhaven Middle School. Under the terms of the settlement, $42 million was allocated to city recreational purposes. Once the new rec center is built, the city will transfer the 25-acre Aquadome property to 3M.
3M has indicated it plans to demolish the Aquadome rec center and convert the land, along with the 15-acre Brookhaven property, into a municipal park. 3M already owns the Brookhaven property and is in the process of demolishing the building.
Under the Wilson Morgan architectural contract, Goodwyn Mills would be paid 4.5% of the total cost of the project. If the $55 million estimated budget for the project proves accurate, Goodwyn Mills would receive $2,475,000 for architectural and engineering services.
Ladner said the next step will be for the Finance Committee — Ladner, McMasters, Bowling, Demeester and City Attorney Herman Marks — to go to New York to meet with bond rating agencies. Bowling said he expects that trip to take place next month.
Ladner said the council would then have a separate vote on the amount of the bond.
"We have already started the preliminary work required by the bonding agencies and will likely bring the finished product, as it relates to the bond, to council in the near future," Demeester said. — Lodging tax
One factor that the mayor and council members supporting the projects emphasized is that the city's financial situation is better since the council last month approved a 3-percentage-point increase in the lodging tax within city limits and a 1.5-percentage-point increase in the police jurisdiction. Demeester has estimated the increase will bring in about $1 million of new revenue annually.
"We've just tapped into a new revenue source that really is for projects like this," Ladner said. "If we hadn't done that, I would have a lot of questions as to where we're getting the additional revenue (to service a $30 million bond)."
Bowling said the lodging tax increase, combined with ongoing and planned construction of three new hotels, should come close to covering the debt service on a $30 million bond.
Councilmen Kyle Pike and Hunter Pepper also favor going to the bond market for the projects.
"I'm in support of it," Pike said. "I think this plan may go a little further and will probably have more amenities than we were looking at with just the settlement money from 3M, really providing a rec center with all the amenities we'd like to see, not just to replace those at the Aquadome."
Pepper is especially enthusiastic about the fact the Wilson Morgan rec center would be in his District 4.
"It's a very expensive project, but it's a wonderful project that's going to benefit our city in so many ways," Pepper said. "If the bond market is the only way we can secure the $30 million to do it, then yeah, it will definitely gain my support."
Goodwyn Mills has designed several recreation centers, including the 71,800-square-foot Sportsplex in Athens that was completed in 2020 for $14.7 million. The firm also designed the $79.5 million Finley Center at the Hoover Met Complex, the $6.2 million Pelham Recreation Center, and the $35 million Watauga Recreation Center in North Carolina. — Ballfields
The $17 million softball/baseball complex to be built between Jack Allen Recreation Complex and Austin High School on Modaus Road Southwest will include eight ballfields with artificial turf, a half-mile road and two large parking lots. It will also include a press box, concession stands, a restroom and other satellite buildings.
The council will vote Monday on a contract with Framework Architecture to design the buildings on the ballfield complex and a $252,000 contract with Pugh Wright McAnally to design the remainder of the complex.
— eric@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2435. Twitter @DD_Fleischauer.
