Climbing wall added to recreation center

Climbing wall added to recreation center

Jan. 22, 2002

A SIGN STANDS at the site of the new family recreation center in Cortez’s Parque de Vida. Planners recently "tweaked" designs for the center to add space in some areas.

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

A recent addition to the Cortez Recreation Center should make rock-climbers happy.

The original plans for the 43,000-square-foot rec center have recently been "tweaked" to make room for a climbing wall, a larger multi-purpose room, and some other design changes.

"By making some changes in the facility and moving things around, trying to reduce square footage, etc., it looks like we’re able to make some savings — so we put in a rock-climbing wall," explained Chris Burkett, director of parks and recreation.

The handicapped-accessible facility will also include a family pool, water slide, indoor jogging track, six-lane lap pool and diving board, basketball and volleyball courts, multi-purpose rooms, an exercise area for aerobic machines, day care, office space, and, thanks to a $500,000 state energy-impact grant, racquetball courts.

Burkett said the recent changes are not dramatic.

"The roof line is essentially the same, layout is the same basically, but we’ve taken and tweaked the original design some."

The new center will now include a 1,600-square-foot multi-purpose room rather than the 1,200-square-foot room that was originally planned.

"Everywhere we went they said, ‘With 1,200 square feet you can’t do your dance or aerobics in it, there’s just not enough room’," explained Burkett.

To save money, the basketball courts will now run north to south instead of east and west, so that the rafters won’t have to cover as much open space.

And of course, this time, two state-funded racquetball courts are included in the design.

The city has also reworked the entryway design, and may consider replacing one of the two towers planned for the outside with a spine similar to the library’s that will let in diffused light to the lobby area. Burkett said the changes will make the library and rec center similar in design.

Construction of the center is scheduled to begin in July, and completion is expected in July 2003.

The center is funded by a city-sales-tax increase of 0.55 percent. The money will be used to repay an $8.9 million bond voters approved in November. Sale of the bonds is expected in mid-February.

Supporters of the rec center are organizing this week to discuss raising an additional endowment fund for low-income users, physical-therapy equipment, and further expansion.

Judy Schuenemeyer, who chairs the Friends of the Center committee, said the group plans to pursue grants for the facility that the city, as a government entity, would not be eligible for.

Although Schuenemeyer said the group has yet to set a monetary goal for an endowment, it will have to be lofty.

"My guess is that at this particular point in time, it’s going to take a fairly substantial principal to generate more income."

The main use of the endowment would be to provide financial aid for low-income users. However, the endowment could possibly fund the rec center’s expansion and other, outside-based recreation activities.

For instance, the facility will not include a hot therapy pool, and some citizens are interested in finding funding to expand the pool area to build one.

"We want to get input from the community as we go along and see what the needs are and what people think is important," said Schuene-meyer. "It could be that there are some people with special needs who could benefit from something that could be either attached to the rec center or created in some other way that would enable children and adults with special needs to participate."

Burkett said the center is designed with expansion in mind.

Friends of the Center might also change its name on Thursday to reflect the varied interest of the group.

"There was a meeting in November after the issue passed, and people were interested in broader areas of recreation than just the rec center, although that’s the major focus right now. But it could be broader than that eventually and we would want a name to reflect that," Schuenemeyer explained.

Friends of the Center will hold its endowment meeting on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Cortez Welcome Center.