When Christiansburg residents originally reported wanting a swimming pool (approximately $4,000,000.00 in cost), very few of them ever envisioned the rather … uh … large structure (approximately $20,000,000.00 in cost) that it would become. I have heard from a lot of people asking me how this could have happened without them knowing anything about it. Here’s how:
The first mention of an ‘aquatic center came from the Christiansburg Parks and Recreation Master Plan Revised August 2000 (page 6) ((this is also known as the 10-Year Plan) where it is noted that “A study should be conducted to determine if it is feasible for an aquatic center with additional weight/fitness rooms and racquetball courts to be constructed as part of the Recreation Center complex.
On page 43 of that same document, it is noted that an alternative site is available. Following that on page 60 is a cost estimate of that aquatic center of $3,875,000.00 (TOTAL, as in for design/engineering, construction, parking, and land acquisition) at the current Recreation Dept. site or $3,925,000.00 at the alternate location.
At the November 20, 2001 Town Council Meeting the first Committee was developed to Begin Planning for a Future Municipal Swimming Pool. Following this, on July 2, 2002, it is noted that a site was determined following the Town Manager’s review of possible sites. The current location was chosen to be voted upon by Town Council.
When Council voted on that location (current location) on July 16, 2002, the Council voted: Council voted as follows: AYES: Ashworth, Ballengee, Barber, Carter, and Weaver. NAYS: None.” As on the May 6, 2003 Town Council Meeting it was still referred to as “A POOL”. And on August 19, 2003 it was reported that: Concerning the aquatic center, requests for proposals have been sent to architectural firms as far away as Richmond. The proposal was written as a “wish list” for the center, and the Town will scale down from there. Plans are to spend this year designing the facility, with groundbreaking this time next year. Some funding has been set aside for architectural work and construction. The balance will be financed.
At the April 6, 2004 Town Council Meeting and Ad Hoc Committee for the Future Aquatic Center was formed by then Mayor Linkous to be comprised of: Lance Terpenny (Town Manager), Barry Helms (Assistant Town Manager), Jim Williams (Recreation Advisory Commission), Ann Carter (Councilwoman), Art Price (Parks and Recreation Director), Ernie Wade (Planning Commissioner), and Bill Beecher (aquatic facilities manager)
September 21, 2004 Town Council Meeting minutes show that the general concept still remained a pool, but it slowly began to morph as Town Manager Terpenny advised he was trying to get enough information together to bring to Council regarding the size of the pool (note the singular form rather than pools). He further noted that the decision is between a fifty meter pool or a twenty-five meter pool. Mr. Terpenny stated that he believes many swimmers will use the pool if it is a fifty-meter pool and he plans to approach Virginia Tech and Radford University usage of the pool. He also added that he hopes to have an economic package put together for Council by the October 19th meeting.
At the October 19, 2004 Town Council Meeting minutes you will find the following: Regarding the Aquatic Center, “Town Manager Terpenny requested that the Finance Committee (Councilman Lester & Councilwoman Carter) allow fundraising projects to raise additional funds for a fifty-meter competition pool. Radford University and Virginia Tech are interested in utilizing the pool if it is a fifty-meter pool. This could mean substantial revenue for the Town. The difference in the twenty-five meter pool and fifty-meter pool is approximately 2.5 million dollars. Mayor Linkous commented that plans are to move forward with the construction of a fifty-meter pool while contributions are being sought.”
AHA! Now, we’ve gone from a roughly $4,000,000.00 pool with amenities to a roughly $6,500,000.00 pool with no mention of amenities. And, we now have it on good authority that the Town Manager BELIEVES more people would use the pool at fifty-meters and that both Radford University and Virginia Tech are interested in utilizing the pool if it is fifty-meters. (While it is noted this could mean substantial revenue for the Town, no mention is made of the restricted access that would happen if both of those groups chose to utilize the venue.)
Something miraculous occurred between October 19th, 2004 and December 7, 2004 Town Council Meetings, as a Public Hearing has held on 12/7/04 for the Aquatic Center Bond of $13,000,000.00. Somehow, the price simply doubled. the full context of that entry also notes that: Manager Terpenny said approximately forty to sixty percent (40% to 60%) of operating expenses will be recouped through membership fees, meets, and practices. The bond will allow construction of the project as well as completion of the Harkrader Ball Complex. Between now and March, fund drives will be held with area industries to raise the cost difference between a twenty-five meter pool and a fifty meter pool. A fifty-meter pool will house meets and tryouts, which will bring large numbers of people to the area. Mayor Linkous said there will also be a therapeutic pool, and letters of inquiry will be sent to Montgomery Regional Hospital and Carilion New River Valley Medical Center concerning interest in use of the therapeutic pool. A leisure pool is also planned. (There is nothing to indicate where this major shift was discussed by Town Council. The Ad Hoc Committee is not required to maintain minutes so it is not possible to verify what discussions transpired during those meetings.)
At this point we have a $13,000,000.00 price tag, with hopes of recouping 40% – 60% of operating expenses coming from membership fees (to citizens), meets, and practices (with meets and practices being from Radford & Virginia Tech? Nothing else is mentioned concerning usage of the pool. There is still no mention on the hours citizens will be restricted from the facility due to any of these meets or practices, and it has suddenly become 3 pools total).
On January 17, 2006 the Town Manager reported that he met with Jim Guynn, Lionberger Construction, and Architect Glenn Reynolds regarding a possible public/private partnership in constructing the aquatic center. In partnership, Lionberger Construction could build the aquatic center upon completion the Town could purchase the aquatic center from Lionberger at a predetermined cost.
On March 21, 2006, Manager Terpenny reported to the Town Council that: he met with Jim Guynn, Lionberger Construction, and Architect Glenn Reynolds to further discuss the possibility of forming a public;private partnership in constructing the aquatic center. Mr. Reynolds is working on the drawings as the public/private partnership process begins. Grading plans are complete and grading is ready to begin.
On June 20, 2006, the Town Manager noted that the facility was not quite to ACC guidelines and and additional $2,000,000.00 would be needed to meet those standards.
At the July 18, 2006 Town Council Meeting: AQUATIC CENTER UPDATE – Town Manager Terpenny reported that the construction documents for the aquatic center are currently being drawn up. The contract between Virginia Tech and Christiansburg, outlining details and usage, is also currently being drafted for Virginia Tech’s review. The Town has received a verbal agreement from Virginia Tech for funding.
Gosh, this thing is really rolling along now.
On September 19, 2006: Town Manager reported that the Town received an unsolicited proposal from a contractor interested in building the aquatic center. The Town will advertise this bid for forty-five days and at the end of that time will choose from the bids received.
—————————————————————————————-
Today, we have a facility that is almost 5 times that original $4,000,000.00 estimate (actually more than that if you count reportedly ‘donated’ items and all of the man hours, equipment, and materials provided by the Town via your tax money contribution).
Upon further review of the minutes of Town Council and Planning Commission Meetings, I found the following: (for a full summary of the Meetings where the Aquatic Center was discussed, based upon the documents provided to me by the Town of Christiansburg on a FOIA request go to “Aquatic Center” on MyVAResources.com/blogs/depotdazed)
December 5, 2006: Town Council: “AUTHORIZE THE TOWN MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN INTERIM AGREEMENT WITH LIONBERGER CONSTRUCTION COMPANY FOR CONSTRUCTION OF AQUATIC CENTER. Town Manager Terpenny reported that, as part of the public/private partnership under Virginia Procurement Code, the Town has accepted a proposal by Lionberger Construction Company to build the Christiansburg Aquatic Center. The Town can not negotiate the expansion of the aquatic center until an interim agreement has been signed and approved. The expansion is a result of changes made by Virginia Tech. Town Attorney, Jim Guynn, has drawn up the interim agreement and has discussed it with Lionberger Construction Company’s attorney. Construction can begin once the agreement is signed and approved. Councilman Barber made a motion to approve the request, seconded by Councilwoman Carter. Council voted on the motion as follows: AYES: Barber, Canada, Carter, Huppert, Stipes, and Wade. NAYS: None.” … “3. Right-of-way plat for Mill Lane improvements. Councilman Barber explained that this request is to widen and increase the right-of-way of Mill Lane, which is the access road to the Christiansburg Aquatic Center. The changes will improve the site line when entering and exiting Mill Lane. Mill Lane, a through street, will also serve the Christiansburg Skatepark. All is in order, and Councilman Barber made a motion to approve the plat, seconded by Councilman Wade. Council voted on the motion as follows: AYES: Barber, Canada, Carter, Huppert, Stipes, and Wade. NAYS: None.” … “AQUATIC CENTER UPDATE – Town Manager Terpenny reported that he plans to meet with the architect this week to review the final drawings before submittal. The aquatic center committee will make a presentation to Town Council in the near future.”
Now, if you want to know who knew about this ‘growth’ of a swimming pool in to an ‘Aquatic Center’, simply look at the names included within these minutes and see what committees were involved and who served on them, as well as, who voted how. This is only a small portion of all the data that I found in the Minutes. Please feel free to look at the entire document, and then go to the actual Meeting Minutes themselves for further information. (Town Council Meeting Minutes from 2001 through 2009 scroll down the page: Planning Commission Meeting Minutes from 2002 through 2009 – many of these remain missing -scroll down the page: Parks and Recreation Master Plan, Revised August 2000: or, check out some of the other topics that I was able to research thanks to FOIA -Freedom of Information Act – some of these are still being developed, but I promise you there is some very interesting information to be found on them.)
CAMBRIA DEPOT MUSEUM
Pingback: Aquatic Center on Steroids. When did the change occur? (Or, how to … - BlogsDepot
I for one am very excited about the center. I noticed that there is some angst about it going from being called a pool….which apparently means a singular hole in the ground with water….to an aquatic center. I do believe there is already a “pool” in the area, and this pool has more than a singular “pool”. I am not a member of any private pools in the area, but it would be my guess that even though they call it a pool, in many cases there is actually more than one hole in the ground there. I guess this technically means we should call each pool, “the pools”. I would think many of them have kiddie pools. I wonder if, when they built them, they said they were building a pool? I also wonder how upset people were when they opened it and were disgusted to find that they actually had 2 POOLS IN THE SAME PLACE, a regular pool and a kiddie pool (what a bunch of liars!!!)
I think the worst thing they could have done was to cheaply put a small pool in the ground and then say to all the residents of Christiansburg: “Here’s your crappy little pool…enjoy!” Could you imagine how much fun it would be fitting 20,000 Christiansburg residents and locals cramming into a singular 25 meter pool?????? With all the amazing things they have added (a sweet slide for kids, for one) it will attract many more people. Opening it up to VT and RU ment quite a bit more cost…but again, also bringing more people to visit (a good thing in my opinion….unless you’re one of those “not in my back yard” people).
I haven’t paid much attention to details over the course of the process, but I seem to remember something about VT helping pay for it since they will have the ability to use it. I didn’t see anything about that in the article. Either I was wrong, or it didn’t fit the slant that was trying to be given.
Again, maybe I’m in the minority here, but I do believe this will be a huge plus for the town of Christiansburg and the cost will be easily made up. But then again, they could have just put a tiny hole in the ground, filled it with water……maybe that would have been better for Cburg.
A lot of people are excited about the Aquatic Center. I happen to be one of those and I have been talking it up with customers at the toy store as a great place for future birthday parties. The problem that I do have is about the process. As to that ‘other pool’ you mentioned, I bet people didn’t find out about what they were like and how much they cost after the fact. And, I’d bet that pretty near all of the Board of Supervisors (County Pool) and the Town Council (Blacksburg Pool) could answer simple questions posed by the public. The real issue is the process that was used and if it will be used again in the future for something like, say a Civic Center. Will citizens again be left out of the loop. That’s why people are upset and mad. They feel that it was done in a sneaky way. If you read through the notes of those minutes, you’ll see where it is hoped that the money from VT will be enough to cover the cost of the larger pool. (The article clearly references you to a source of more detailed information….these pages can be only so long.)
As to the cost being made up, there is noted in those minutes that the hope is that 40-60% of the cost of operating the pool will be made up for by memberships and the prices charged for those non-VT groups who will want to rent it. That means taxpayer money only has to cover 40-60%.
I have no doubt that the team running the Aquatic Center are the best! They will come up with new and innovative ways to make money while still serving the needs of the community to the best of their ability.
The additional point I was hoping to make was that citizens were not made aware. Most of the anger is at the perception that deals were done behind closed doors and citizens were never asked for their opinions. Well, they (the citizens) have a right to know. People like you would have had the right to come out in support of it and perhaps change some of the people against it. An open dialog with people could have created a shared vision of the Aquatic Center that could have stirred community pride rather create so much distrust.
A lot of people feel like they were blind-sided with this whole deal. And, if you look at the only source of the discussions concerning the Aquatic Center, the Town Council Meeting Minutes, I think you will see that there are a lot of gaps & leaps in the process that show people were not kept informed. The documents cause it to look like there was an agenda by a few that was shoved down the throats of the many. No evidence exists anywhere available to the public to refute that.
As I said, the article was about seeing the process through the eyes of citizens. Town Council members were obviously privy to a lot of information that the public was not made aware of and that just isn’t good government.
If you can come up with documents speaking to the contrary, please let me know and if I can obtain verifiable copies, I’ll be able to post them on the website along with the minutes and the comprehensive plan.
Oh, by the way, RU decided not to participate.
I’m glad that Dave is able to get all excited about the Aquatic Center. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that most of Christiansburg’s 20,000 resident’s angst is over the fact that there are multiple pools at the center, or that the size of the pool grew from 25 meters to 50 meters. I think that most of their concern is over the price tag growing from $4 million to the now staggering $20 million without the citizens being informed or consulted. Looks like most of the process was behind closed doors and on the hush-hush for obvious reasons. This albatross will likely hang around our necks to remind us of the cost of bad government for a long, long time.
Dave sez:
“…they could have just put a tiny hole in the ground, filled it with water……maybe that would have been better for Cburg.”
I don’t know about it being better, but it would have been a lot cheaper. Instead they put a big hole in the ground and filled it with our money without our consent.
i think terpenny should be fired for two reasons(1) the pool folly that cost the taxpayers of c’brg thru the nose so tech and ru could use it (ru dropped out) (2). the incredibly stupid buses for c’burg that nobody and i mean nobody rides. lets clean house in the town council and vote these guys out that condoned this stupidy and will allow terpenny to do even more stupid things in the future
I agree about the buses. What a horrible idea. Nothing like seeing an empty bus riding around the big city of Christiansburg.
if you think the pool will pay for itself in this decade or any other,surprise ,surprise-when your real estate taxes take a leap because c’burg has no money.if it was such a good deal and would bring so much money into c’burg,tell me why b’burg let c’burg get the jump on them and wait until it’s your turn to use the pool
The part of the process that angers me the most is the fact that the building process is taking a very long time. It seems that it is the never ending project. There have been articles in the Roanoke Times about the “aquatic center” and its progression and the come and go opening dates. I just spoke to someone at the aquatics department for the town of Christiansburg and was told that the opening would still be 2-3 months away. This aquatic center had better be great to make the citizens wait to use this facility. My guess is that the townspeople will be waiting longer because since VT is paying a portion of the bill it VT sports will have first use of the facility.
Pingback: Flood Updates for Rhode Island and Mass. | Insurance Salvage Cars
Pingback: Flood Update for Massachusetts and Rhode Iceland | Hot Daily Gossip