Rec centers pricey, Lindon discovers
Trick for council is getting facility designed that city can afford
Members of the City Council looked recently at early proposals on how much it would cost to build their dream center — and the figures were eye-opening.
The first plan presented by Brent Tippets of VCBO Architecture was for a 24,000- square-foot aquatics center and a 45,000-square-foot indoor facility for $16 million.
That figure takes into account what it would cost to wait to start construction in a year, Tippets said.
The second approach — a super-size version of the first plan — includes a larger leisure pool with a current channel and slide and larger indoor fitness rooms.
The cardiovascular fitness area would jump from 2,000 square feet to nearly 3,000 square feet.
"I strongly encourage this if you can afford it," Tippets counseled council members during a meeting. "(It's) one of the areas in all the facilities that is always 'never big enough' no matter how big we make them."
But the price tag for that option is a little more than $20 million, with a total footprint of 26,000 square feet for the pool area and more than 62,000 square feet for the indoor and shared spaces, including the walking track, gymnasium and locker rooms.
"If you build the facilities, you'll draw (other cities) into your facility to use them, I have no doubt," Tippets said. "Utah County is suffering greatly from not having enough of these types of facilities."
If $16 million and $20 million are too much to handle in one lump sum, it's possible Lindon could stagger the project, building parts of it one at a time.
However, the downside to that is the longer the city waits, the more the price of supplies, such as steel and asphalt, will go up.
VCBO has designed fitness centers throughout the western United States, including the Dimple Dell Recreation Center in Sandy and the Clearfield Recreation Center in Clearfield as well as the Brigham Young University indoor practice facility in Provo.
And although it's expensive, building a bigger, more complete facility makes more sense than scattering small, individual amenities throughout the city.
"As you have a more complete facility, each piece of it gets used more, even though there's more options," said City Council member Bruce Carpenter.
Tippets agreed and said the kids can come and play in the recreation pool while Mom and Dad go swim laps in the competition pool or work out with the free weights.
E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com
You can be the first to comment on this story.