Community buys amenities for aquatics center in public meeting
Caleb A. Gallegos/News-Sun
Members of the community got to experience what it would be like to be a shareholder in a company, as they used their money to ‘Fund the Fun” and buy the amenities they think should be included in the new Multi-Generational Aquatics Center in Tuesday’s public meeting at the CORE.
The proposed aquatics center will be located in the Taylor Ranch subdivision, at the intersection of Sanger Street and Marland Boulevard.
Using the play money given to everyone who attended the public meeting, members of the community were given $100 in different denominations, and encouraged to spend the money on what amenities they would want featured in the new aquatics center.
Landscape Architect Project Manager of Halff Layne Olivo explained to those in attendance using the “Fund the Fun” process helps reflect what the community is looking for.
“These are all potential amenities that we could put in the park. Then what we want you to do is take your $100 budget and divide it out among the amenities, and that will help us determine what is the most important to the community,” Olivo said. “We really wanted to have something that is reflective of what the community is looking for.
“When you get a chance to actually put money down and say ‘I want this’ it’s a pretty powerful motivation.
Olivo said having the community use their play money to budget out the big ticket items helps create a priority list.
“A lot of it is going to depend on what we need up with in the final budget from the city and whoever they partner with,” Olivo said. “What this really helps us do is set up a priory list. What’s mosts wanted to least wanted.
“We know these are all wanted items, its just what’s the priority?”
The big ticket items that are being considered in the new construction are a slide tower, children’s play tower, wave rider, open swim area, launch slide, lazy river, wave pool, completion lanes, diving boards and indoor party room.
Other items the community got to vote for Tuesday evening were things like “style and theme” of the new facility, and were given choices like modern, tropical, adventure/fitness and others.
Some of the popular supporting amenities on the board to vote for were things like temporary food and beverages, bandshell/amphitheater, rentable cabanas and a fitness court.
Information at the public meeting states, three stakeholder listening sessions were conducted as part of the kick-off stage of this project, which included representatives from City staff, local schools and colleges, local sports associations and other special interest groups.
The goal of the meetings were to gain target insight from representatives on the needs of the community and discuss strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with the project.
City of Hobbs Parks and Recreation Director Doug McDaniel said the city applied for the grant and was awarded the full $600,000 for the planning and designing of a new “multi-generational family” aquatics center, during a commission meeting earlier in the year.
“Governor Grisham announced that $40 million was made available by the federal government that she would pass along to the citizens of New Mexico through the New Mexico Regional Recreation Centers and Quality of Life Grant,” McDaniel said during the commission meeting.