About three dozen Athens residents asked city leaders Monday to consider including an aquatic center in plans to build a new recreation center.

During the City Council’s premeeting work session, Athens resident Bill Graham gave a 15-minute presentation outlining the reasons an aquatic center, or at least an enclosed competition swimming pool, would be a good opportunity for the city.

He said there is a need for an indoor pool that could be used year-round. The city’s current pool at the Sportsplex off U.S. 31 is not enclosed and can only be used in summer months.

As a parent of a competition high school swimmer, Graham said students currently “have to leave the city to train.” Although his son will be out of high school by the time the city builds a new recreation center, he believes an indoor competition pool would provide great opportunity for children who want to swim and to compete. He said the indoor pool at the Wellness Center is not “competition accommodating.”

An indoor pool, or aquatic center with various pools, would appeal to others besides competition swimmers, including those who want to lap swim, do water aerobics or recover from injuries through low-impact exercise.

“There is a significant group of people swimming in the city, whether competition or recreation, but no facility supports year-round swimming,” Graham said.

He listed the following examples of city facilities that do accommodate year-round swimming:

• Huntsville Aquatic Center (natatorium);

• Madison’s Dublin Park;

• Decatur’s Aquadome;

• Scottsboro Recreation Center; and

• Muscle Shoals Recreation Center.

Graham said three of the cities are smaller than Athens but have excellent multi-use recreation centers that generate revenue or are self sufficient, including:

• Cullman;

• Lewisburg, Tennessee; and

• Manchester, Tennessee.

Graham reviewed the details of the facilities in these smaller cities.

Cullman Wellness and Aquatic Center

Graham said Cullman, with an estimated population of 15,496 in the city and 80,000 in Cullman County in 2016, has a recreation center with an indoor competition pool, outdoor competition pool with diving well, outdoor water park, basketball and volleyball gymnasium, indoor walking track, cardiovascular and weight equipment and 50-plus group fitness classes. He said the center has more than 13,000 paying members from inside and outside the city and is completely self-sufficient, meaning it does not need annual revenue from the city. It generates money through annual, semiannual, day use and special event fees.

Graham said the center has hosted the Alabama Recreation and Parks Association State Swim Meet, a three-day event that generates revenue for hotels and other local businesses.

Lewisburg Recreation Center

Lewisburg, with an estimated population of 11,600 in 2016, has a recreation center with four swimming pools, including a six-lane indoor competition/lap pool, therapy pool, spa, outdoor pool and diving well, basketball and volleyball gym with walking track, fitness center with cardio and weight equipment, tennis courts and a nine-hole golf course with practice facility.

Graham said the recreation center is an “economic development focal point” with a $1.5 million annual parks and recreation budget. He said the center is 40 percent self-sufficient with the golf course requiring “significant operation and maintenance costs.” (Athens is not planning to have a golf course at its new recreation center.)

Manchester Recreation Center

Manchester, with an estimated population of 10,617 in 2016, has a recreation center with an outdoor leisure pool with waterslides and toddler play area, and eight-lane, 25-yard competition pool with 1-meter diving boards and indoor therapy pool. Its gym has two basketball courts, two racquetball courts, an indoor walking track and gymnastics and aerobics rooms.

Those who obtain a recreation center membership are allowed to use the pools.

Graham said the center is self-sufficient from an operations-cost standpoint but capital improvements (bricks and mortar improvements) are performed by the city. Approximately $120,000 a year is generated each year from swim meets and lessons, private parties and concessions, he said.

Three reasons

Graham summarized his presentation by listing the following reasons the city should consider including an aquatic facility in the recreation center plans:

• Significant citizen interest in an aquatic facility. He said an indoor pool is used not only by competition swimmers but also by people of all ages who want a cardiovascular workout that is easy on the joints;

• Financially achievable as evidenced by multi-use recreation centers in other, smaller municipalities; and

• Failure to consider aquatics adversely affects the quality of life in Athens relative to neighboring municipalities that all have or are building multi-use recreation centers.

Council discusses

Council members had questions for Graham after his presentation.

“We are considering building a recreation center because recreational activity has just exploded — it has double and tripled,” Councilman Harold Wales said. “I believe if we do something like this we would attract more people who would build homes here. I hope we can consider something like this. If we could not afford to build it in the new recreation center, could we modify (enclose) the existing pool (at the Sportsplex) to do this?”

Graham said he had not studied that possibility but it would be something to look at. He said the people in Cullman who helped bring about the current recreational facility would be willing to sit down with Athens city leaders and “walk them through the process.”

“If we just covered the (existing) pool, would this work (from a competition standpoint)?” Councilman Chris Seibert said.

“Basically, yes,” Graham said.

“When you go to these meets, is it revenue producing?” Wales asked.

Graham said the competitors and their parents and family members pay to stay in hotels, park, attend the event and eat.

Councilman Wayne Harper asked whether people pay membership fees at Cullman (recreation center) and other places?

Graham said he did not get information about various fee structures but he would gather that information and get back to the council.

Councilman Frank Travis asked how much it would cost to build a new enclosed pool or to enclose the existing one.

Graham said it would depend on how it is incorporated into the recreation center — whether it is new or whether it is covering the existing.

“I don’t know if we should look at this as revenue-generating,” he said. “It’s a quality-of-life issue.”

He said the city has talked about tearing down the old Athens Middle School to create green space and it may buy the former Pilgrim’s Pride chicken processing plant to create a park and mixed-use development.

“We have families that want to be in the water and we don’t have an opportunity for them to do that,” Graham said.

Mayor Ronnie Marks said, “We have been working with architects for a couple of months (on the proposed recreation center.) We have not discounted anything. We have brought them as alternate bids. The current recreation center was built in 1977, and we know how dated it is.”

He said the city has land for the recreation center by Tri-Green but there are various groups wanting different amenities, such as four new tennis courts that would cost about $400,000. He said a new pool would cost $3 million to $3.5 million.

Dollars, destination

During the council meeting that followed the work session, resident Greg Skipworth said a new aquatic center in Athens would be a good way to prevent the loss of tax dollar to other communities (that have aquatic centers). He also said that with an aquatic center, Athens could “become a destination rather than a place to stop and get gas.”