City Council discusses resolution on EOC Sports Complex | News, Sports, Vacancies

City Council members discussed a resolution to support a new athletic complex to be shared between Jamestown Community College and the Jamestown YMCA. PJ, photo by Sarah Holthaus

Jamestown City Council members on Monday will have the opportunity to support a new sports complex partnership between Jamestown Community College and the Jamestown YMCA.

A resolution of support was presented to council during a work session Monday to encourage the state to include funding for a new athletic complex at Jamestown Community College. Council President Anthony Dolce, R-District 2, presented the resolution to the council, saying he and Mayor Kim Eklund received it from the JCC some time ago.

“As you know, they are in the process of joining, working and partnering with the Jamestown YMCA to build a sports complex at the JCC,” Dolce said. “They have applied for several grants, and since Jamestown is one of the sponsors for this project, this is just a formality. This does not require any funding, in fact, as a result, the board hereby requests that the JCC Athletic Complex be included in SUNY’s capital request for the upcoming executive budget by a 25-26 vote.”

Dolce said the resolution is intended to encourage the state to include funds in next year’s budget for the JCC to move forward with the project. He said he knows the YMCA and JCC have also applied for federal grants.

“This is just a resolution of support that should go into the portfolio to strengthen their position and again does not require financial responsibility from the city from our budget,” Dolce said.

The council raised the question of how Dietrick Park Stadium would play a role in the sports complex. Dolce said the stadium wasn’t involved at all and that there is a new proposal for it and that the JCC asked to get involved but it put them on hold until after the budget cycle.

“The sports complex will be completely modernized and they will add another section on one side that will become the YMCA,” Dolce said. “They also said they were going to remove the tennis courts and build soccer fields, athletic fields and baseball fields. This has nothing to do with Russell Dietrick Park, he’s not a part of it at all at this point. This is a separate project.”

The $43 million project has received approval from the county Planning Board. Of that amount, JCC will be responsible for just over $24 million. The YMCA will pay $19,189,293. Of the JCC amount, 50% will come from the state, 25% from the district, and the college will be responsible for raising the remaining 25% through its foundation. For the county, that amount would be about $6 million.

Some of the project highlights include:

– Shared smart classroom for academics, tutoring, youth mentoring and community programs.

— Conference rooms and office space.

— Two six-lane competition pools to accommodate JCC and YMCA swim teams, as well as public outdoor swimming. Both pools will be ADA compliant and one pool will include adaptive equipment to accommodate people with disabilities.

— Sauna and steam room.

– Two ADA competition gyms for JCC athletics, YMCA leagues and community outdoor gyms.

— High-quality child care facilities and services for children from infancy to 5 years.

— After school and babysitting.

— Teenage center.

— Intergenerational center.

– Family and universal locker rooms and public restrooms.

– General health and wellness center and group training studios with free weights, universal systems, TRX stations and cardio equipment.

— General flexible programming space.

– Shared storage.

— A common open area with designated areas for relaxation and comfort, including a playground adjacent to the kindergarten.

— Two multi-purpose turf fields for playing football (2), baseball (1) and softball (1).