The $35 million Austin Community Recreation Center took a big step forward Monday.

Austin City Council passed both the purchase and lease agreements 5-2 at its regularly meeting, with Council members Michael Jordal and Jeremy Carolan voting no.

The vote paves the way for the city to acquire the downtown Austin Municipal Plant for about $2 million for Vision 2020 to build the Austin Community Recreation Center at the site. Plans call for the Austin YMCA to operate the facility for the building to include a new Y and community spaces.

The vote came down to the wire, as Council member Judy Enright said she struggled with the decision to say yes to the rec center.

“I got input from both sides and I am uneasy,” she said. “My gut tells me no, but then I also I feel that I have to put a little trust out there. There is a lot of gray areas, but with the negotiating that you guys have done in recent and overtime, it shows the people are both willing to work together and it is an extreme gift to the community.”

Austin Mayor Tom Stiehm said he was confident they would get through it.

“Failure is not an option,” he said.

Work to be done

But much still needs to be done before the project moves forward. Chiefly, the YMCA board next needs to approve the plans.

Plans call for the facility to feature things like an indoor playground, a Youth Activity Center, a family aquatic center, community spaces, gyms, a gymnastics facility, workout rooms, a running track and more.

Coming into Monday’s meeting, Vision 2020 Community Recreation Center Committee member Jim Splinter said there were two unresolved issues: the hours of the aquatic center and the daily rate pass.

He said Vision 2020 would prefer the language stay and the public would have access to the aquatic center during YMCA designated hours for aquatic center operation.

“It’s been our history to maximize the use of our pool facility at the YMCA,” said Splinter, who is also active with the YMCA. “We have no intentions of changing that direction.”

He said the $8 daily rate pass was a major concession and would not be financially prudent to offer additional discounts until after they gain an actual operating experience.

“We have an obligation to our private and now public donors to operate a financially sustainable rec center,” Splinter said.

He added a facility of this size would have an annual operating budget between $2.1 million and $2.5 million and the city’s commitment of $200,000 per year represents less than 10 percent of the overall operating budget.

“It will be our intention to review such rate accommodation requests annually, as already provisioned in the lease agreement,” Splinter said. “Hopefully our financial operating experience is such that we provide some budget flexibility for family rate passes sometime into the future.”

Carolan expressed concern over having family passes, and Council member Jeff Austin agreed.

“I do think it’s important for the citizens to have a family pass … under second grade,” Carolan said. “It’s important for the citizens to have an affordable rec center.”

He called around to other aquatic centers and found that up to age 2 is free and Austin’s future rec center should have an exception like that. The highest YMCA price was Rochester for $25 a day.

Carolan also asked if people wanted to invite family and friends from out of town and what they would pay. The lease agreement currently says non-residents will not pay less than 80 percent of the normal daily fee.

Austin added though the city is only contributing $200,000 a year, but the public is also contributing money by buying a day pass.

“Those day passes are coming from the public and that’s public support of the operation of the facility as well … that should be taken into consideration,” Austin said.

Splinter said the daily fee will remain at $8 until the Y gets financial experience with the operating budget. He added if there were any surpluses, it would be reinvested back into the community in some fashion, because the YMCA is a nonprofit organization.

“To have a project of this size and this magnitude come down to a family pass fee, we need to look at the entire opportunity in front of us,” Splinter said. “What this represents for the entire community and we’ll work toward a solution in the future.”

Stiehm said the council has voiced several different concerns through negotiations and this is the deal they’ve negotiated at this point.

“We’ve come much too far and everybody worked on this way too hard,” Stiehm said.

Agreements

In an updated lease and purchase agreement, the deal remains a 30-year agreement with renewal provisions for the YCMA, but there is a five-year notice after the first term, giving the YMCA the option to purchase the facility, the lease said.

The building will still be under the city’s ownership while the YCMA will handle operations, maintenance, utilities and insurance while receiving $200,000 from the city for the public portions.

There is also a defined number of open hours for the aquatic center for all months of the year.

Assistant City Attorney Craig Byram said the city and YCMA have to be balanced.

“Everything here is a balancing act between a number of different competing interests, one being certainty and things we can count on in the future,” Byram said. “Another being an acknowledgement that a 30-year contract requires some level of flexibility because circumstances may change.”

He added the Y is operating as a membership service organization concerned about its member’s needs and the building also serving as a community center that serves the needs of the broader public.

The Youth Activity Center was reduced from 6,305 to 5,000 square feet, along with changes to the schedule of the center and the schedule of the aquatic center.

Now, the Youth Activity Center will share the bathrooms with the common space and the community learning kitchen spaces can be used for other activities.

It has to be open a minimum of 32 hours per week from the last week in September to mid-April. Other stipulations include activities such as game tables, computer area for homework, free popcorn, supervisors to conduct semi-organized activities, teaching students how to make healthy snacks and special event nights during the summer months.

Aquatic Center hours

Byram said the Y asked for the original proposal of 10 hours a day at the aquatic center be replaced with hours similar to what they currently have on their school and summer schedules.

After a recent work session, the Y raised more concerns about that schedule and there were more discussions with Park and Rec, staff and others that focused on when the public would really want to use the facilities.

“What do we as the public need to ensure that these facilities are made available to the public if they choose to pay the $8 fee that we’ve set for them?” Byram said. “As a result, some of the hours have been cut … the total number of mandatory hours has been cut by approximately 50 percent.”

Byram said that’s a reflection of studying when the public would be inclined to use the facilities, so hours set during the school week would be after school hours and more reflective of when families come. Staff and city negotiations felt those were the hours that would be most important, Byram said.

“So the public knows they are getting that as a minimum,” Byram said. “Then if the facilities was widely used and so lots of people are paying the $8, or otherwise creating a revenue stream, obviously the Y would be … inclined to expand those hours.”

Turbine room

One remaining question will be preservation of the turbine room. While plans call to preserve the space, Splinter said the turbine room won’t be saved if costs exceed $500,000.

“That’s clearly something we would like to do,” Splinter said.

Council member Janet Anderson said she was originally opposed to the idea of building it at the former Austin utilities site, but seeing as it was now going to be built there, she said she understood it was the best use of that space.

“I do continue to support historic preservation … so there will be opportunities in the future to explore those kind of things in Austin,” Anderson said.

Long wait for a new Y

YMCA board member Brian Lillis said over the course of 10 years, the board has had numerous discussions about a new facility.

He thanked City Administrator Craig Clark and Byram for working through details and said the YMCA has leaned in on how the $200,000 would be utilized, whether it be the walking track, maintenance of the grounds or similar uses.

The YMCA board next needs to approve the plans.

“The agreement we voted on prior to the working meeting of the YCMA board did not include this language, so it could be something we could take back on, depending on the outcome tonight,” Lillis said. “I still believe a community rec center is the best way to move forward because we’ve done the research and understand the needs of the community and the YMCA will continue to be a partner.”