A lack of space for schools and community groups to practice sports has pushed James City County staff to try to resurrect a plan to build a $7 million athletic building on land at the Warhill Sports Complex.

Changes to Virginia High School League regulations allowing student athletes to practice more and a dearth of coaches available during afterschool hours have sent more students into gyms for practice, pushing out the swelling ranks of community youth athletic groups, according to a memorandum from James City County Parks and Recreation Parks Administrator Nancy Ellis.

Consequently, county staff believe another building containing gyms is needed to ensure there are sufficient resources for athletic groups and school players. An auxiliary gym was built in 2012 at Jamestown High to help address the issue, but Warhill and Lafayette high schools did not receive a similar gym, Parks and Recreation Director John Carnifax said at a Thursday meeting of the James City County Planning Commission Policy Committee.

A building featuring three gymnasiums, locker rooms and storage areas was designed for the area in 2009, but the recession pushed the county’s board of supervisors to divert the funding to other projects.

Carnifax said Thursday the county is in talks with a private group to potentially build a gym on the Warhill Sports Complex land.

“We hope to know in the next six months [if the private gym will come to fruition],” Carnifax said. “If that doesn’t work out, we need to construct this.”

County staff have submitted an application seeking to have the project placed back in the county’s capital improvements plan, which directs funding for infrastructure projects. The plan would provide additional space for community groups like AAU basketball teams and volleyball clubs to practice.

“How can we go in and meet the community needs that we see and continue to grow?” Ellis asked at Thursday’s meeting. “There is no available space anywhere for these groups to go.”

The memorandum from Ellis also suggests the new gym building could help the county promote sports tourism, though she cautioned the 2009 design is “pretty bare bones.”

At Wednesday’s meeting, Planning Commissioner Robin Bledsoe (Jamestown) suggested re-evaluating how big the building needs to be if it is to be used for sports tourism.

“Instead of building something and saying it was too small before we finished it, if we’re looking at trying to do sports tourism, that’s what we should be saying and asking for dollars for,” she said.

Commissioner Tim O’Connor (At-Large) also wondered if the proposed building was large enough. He said he has relatives who play at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton — an athletic building in Hampton which includes an indoor track and basketball courts — and that it brings many people to that city.

A study commissioned in 2013 by the county’s board of supervisors into the feasibility of building either an indoor sports complex or an aquatic center  found that they would be popular but would bring costs that could not be recouped.

In that study, a sports complex including six basketball courts, bleachers for 1,200 people, locker rooms, a climbing wall and a kitchen is estimated to cost $12.5 million. It would bring an estimated $47 million of economic activity to the area,

The plan for the new gym building is one of a handful of projects under consideration for inclusion in the next version of the county’s Capital Improvements Plan, which outlines county spending on infrastructure and technology.

The plan will be considered by the board of supervisors as it works through the budget process for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1 and runs through June 2016.

 

Source:http://wydaily.com/

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