Baldwin County was awarded another grant for the Aquatic Center project last week.
County Manager Carlos Tobar stated in a short press release that the Georgia Department of Natural Resources approved a $447,008 Land and Water Conversation grant to go toward construction of phase 2 of the facility, to be located on the old prison site adjacent to the County Recreation Center on Highway 22.
“This will allow the county to construct phases 1 and 2 at the same time,” Tobar said in the release. “Design is in the final stage, and surveying of the property occurred two weeks ago.”
The project is a product of the county’s Comprehensive Planning Process, during which county commissioners decided not to build a swimming pool, as requested by many residents. Rather, Tobar stated in a previous article in The Baldwin Bulletin, that they opted to pursue the aquatic center, modeled after the facility in Laurens County.
“Theirs is self-sustaining (financially),” Tobar said. “We intend ours to be as well.”
The park will cost $5 million, and the two grants will leave just over $2.35 million to come from Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds. That will be paid from both the current SPLOST and the one that begins April 1 of next year, Tobar said.
“We have the money saved up from the current SPLOST that was going to be used originally for just a pool,” he explained. “So, we have that money. Plus, we have the money from the next SPLOST. We were hoping we were going to be able to do everything at one time.”
The county manager would not speculate on a timetable for the start or completion of construction but did offer some insight.
“I would think that by the end of October, the final design will be ready,” Tobar said. “We have to get authorization to proceed from the Land and Water Conservation fund grant folks before we can bid it out. We will know that on September 14. I have a meeting with them that day.
“We are going to ask them, now that we have all the money wrapped up, when can we go out for bid. They will give me a date. Or,” he predicted, “they will tell me what I have to wait for before going forward.”
The park will include a lazy river, which will end in a swimming pool that will feature a “zero entry” walk-in to facilitate handicapped individuals, as well as a high slide. A “kiddie pool” with a small slide and splash pad will also be included in the recreational facility.
In addition, there will be one or more picnic shelters, shade shells, and a multi-purpose building, just under 3,300 square feet in size. It will include restrooms for men, women, and families, a large concession area, a lifeguard station, and a large office/ reception area that can be rented for private parties.
District 2 commissioner Kendrick Butts said the project was initiated before he was elected, but that he supports it.
“What it means to me is you’ll have the five districts around the county connected to a place in the county where families can come and bring their kids, that’s family-oriented,” Butts said in a phone interview this week. “We hope it will bring in revenue to the county, bring some jobs; there will be some jobs in the summertime.”
The commissioner said the board anticipates money from visitors outside Baldwin County will be spent at the park, too.
“We hope it will bring outside tax revenue in here. I think the nearest one like this is in Dublin, one in Statesboro; so, hopefully, this will bring some of that traffic this way. They won’t have to drive that far,” he said.
Butts acknowledged he knew some are opposed to the expenditure of a significant amount of tax money for the project.
“I have heard a lot of that criticism. No matter what you do, there are going to be some people you please and some not happy when you thought you were doing good.
“I don’t hold that against them,” Butts went on. “Hopefully we can change their minds once it is built and they see the joy on the kids’ faces and hopefully it starts generating tax revenue.”
District 3 County Commissioner Sammy Hall voiced similar sentiments.
“We’re not in the business to compete with private business, but there is no private business doing this in Baldwin County,” Hall said. “We’re looking at it as a recreational activity. But the reason we want to attract other people is we want to try to make it self-sufficient, as much as we can. We’re not looking at it to make a huge profit. We would just like for it to pay for itself.”