Rec center

There are more than 20,000 children under age 18 living in Athens and Limestone County, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

How do we keep them active and healthy?

Plans to build a new recreation center and possible splash pad in Athens in the future should make it easier.

“The challenge is to get kids away from the phones and video games and outdoors,” said Ben Wiley, director of Athens parks and recreation department. “Activity is good — anything you can do to get them moving.”

Keeping kids moving is not just a matter of entertainment, it is a matter of health. In the United States, the percentage of obese children and adolescents has more than tripled since the 1970s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data from 2015-2016 show nearly 1 in 5 children ages 6 to 19 are obese. Unless something changes, experts predict a healthcare crisis as these children age.

Childhood obesity has immediate and long-term effects on physical, social and emotional health, according to the CDC. For example:

• Obese children are at higher risk of having other chronic health conditions and diseases that influence physical health. These include asthma, sleep apnea, bone and joint problems, Type 2 diabetes mellitus and risk factors for heart disease;

• Obese children are bullied and teased more than their normal weight peers and are more likely to suffer from social isolation, depression and lower self-esteem; and

• Obese children are more likely to be obese adults. An obese adult has a higher risk of developing heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and many types of cancer.

Recreation center plan

Although Athens already has a recreation center, Mayor Ronnie Marks has said the city has outgrown it. The 20,000-square-foot facility was built in 1977 at the Sportsplex off U.S. 31. The building, valued at $950,000, may be sold to Athens City Schools for use as a field house.

The city’s plans to build a new recreation center on land next to the existing recreation center are nearly firm. City Council members have agreed to go to the bond market Feb. 26 and 27 to try to secure approximately $16 to $17 million to build the facility. The council has not yet bid the project, but the plan calls for a 70,000-square-foot, two-story, north-south facing recreation center. The second floor would include a three-lane walking/running track with a sound-muffling floor over two basketball courts and a lobby.

“This is a multigenerational community center, not a basketball gym,” said Bob Gray, senior vice president of Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood Architects of Birmingham, the company that has drawn the recreation center plan.

Wiley said the new recreation center will appeal to children as young as 3 or 4 to those ages 15 or 16, as well as those reaching adulthood.

“Tentatively, it will have three (ground-level) gymnasiums, depending on the finalized design,” he said.

Two gyms would have wood floors and could be used for basketball and volleyball. A third would have a rubberized floor and could be used for practice. Two racquetball courts were also included in the plan, as well as an indoor track. There would be two group meeting areas or activity areas — one 3,000 square feet and the other 3,600 square feet — where various groups could meet or classes could take place.

To the left of the front door would be space for recreation and cemetery staff, a conference room, shared break areas, open office space and enclosed office space.

There are also three proposed add-ons, including six tennis courts, covering the existing outdoor pool so it can be used year-round or a multi-use field for little league, flag football, soccer and any events that require a sodded green space with lights. The council will decide which, if any, of the three optional additions the city can afford to include.

From the outside looking in, the plan features glass fronts with masonry and brick details with less expensive products covering the back of the facility, Gray has said.

Canine recreation?

Although there has been talk of finding space for a dog park at the Sportsplex, Wiley said that is unlikely.

“That’s the problem, there is no space out there,” he said.

Once the city finds a spot for a dog park, Wiley thinks creating it will be affordable.

“We estimate it will cost about $60,000 to $70,000 with us (city workers) doing the work,” he said.

Splash pad?

A water park is not part of the proposed recreation center plan, but it is in the city’s five-year plan, Wiley said.

For those unfamiliar, a splash pad has no standing water. Instead, it sprays water into the air from nozzles in the ground.

“It is interactive,” Wiley said. “You can walk through and maybe the water squirts or mushrooms, but there is not standing water.

“There would be different water amenities — structures or animals that they can get on. But it is safer because there is no standing water.”

Wiley said the city is considering multiple locations, including Lincoln-Bridgeforth Park.

He said putting the splash pad in District 3 would be good because of the many sidewalks, making it easy for children in the area to walk to and from the facility.