On a 3-2 vote Thursday night, the board of the Truckee Donner Recreation and Park District approved the construction of a new aquatic center with an eight-lane lap pool and a “lazy river” to serve as a play feature for kids and a magnet for those needing non-weight bearing exercise.
The vote came at the end of an almost three-hour public hearing that drew a record crowd of more than 100 people. At stake was $7 million the district had banked from savings in the construction of the new rec center near Highway 89.
The district had hoped to combine its savings with public investment to build both the new pool and a performing arts center. But that plan was hinged on floating $8.5 million in general obligation bonds to match the existing reserves. That proposal, Measure J, failed by a narrow margin last November to win the two-thirds voter approval required, leaving the board with the difficult decision of choosing one or the other.
Thursday night’s meeting dragged on for hours as dozens of people, some so young the podium towered above them, spoke eloquently of the need for both facilities. Indeed, studies have backed them up, showing almost equal support for building a performing arts center in town as for replacing the old high school pool.
By 9:30 p.m., when it appeared there might be some support for postponing that decision, audience members sighed and sneered, and some walked out.
“The recreation district cannot be all things to all people,” said Board Member Kevin Murphy, who made a motion late in the night to invest the $7 million in the aquatics center. “We need to stick to our mission, and our mission is parks and recreation. As my grandmother, who was a homesteader … said, ‘time to get off the pot.’”
Several people, Murphy among them, said a swim center was a logical addition to the campus of the new rec center across from Coachland. A theater, they said, belonged downtown.
The motion passed on a 3-2 vote, with board members Janet Brady and Erin Casey voting no.
Brady pointed to the need for a performing arts center, noting that many park districts around the country have added “arts” to their traditional charge of “parks and recreation.”
“I’m a jock,” Brady said, noting the importance of arts for children. “This decision is excruciating for me.”
Casey, who is new to board, said there were too many unanswered questions for her to make an informed choice of one project over the other. She favored a postponement, a proposal that did not sit well with the audience, many of whom had invested several years into the planning and studies that culminated with the narrow defeat of Measure J.
“The performing arts center is a riskier proposition at this point in time,” said Board Chair Kris York. Like others, she said she was initially attracted to the spinoff economic benefits a performing arts center could bring, particularly if it were to be built in the new Railyard project near the current lumber yard.
But the park district would be taking on an unknown commodity with the management of a professional theater, according to York, and the Measure J campaign raised questions about whether the performing arts community was cohesive enough to successfully help the district overcome those challenges.
“The performing arts community is divided. They really need to come together in order to do this,” York said. “I think that economic development is primarily the responsibility of the town of Truckee.”
The pool won the money, but there was no lack of support for the performing arts at Thursday’s meeting, neither among the board nor the audience. In an impassioned speech, Truckee builder Mark Tanner invited supporters to meet at his downtown offices and strategize how to move forward with the project.
He said he has $400 left in the kitty from the Measure J campaign and a determination to put the bond proposal back before voters: “We were at 57 percent. Let’s get to 67 percent and get both of these facilities.”
Having built the first of the mixed-use condo/retail buildings in the Railyard project (Cake Tahoe is on the lower floor), he also has a sense of what might be possible for that end of Commercial Row.
In a unanimous vote at the conclusion of the meeting, the board allocated $200,000 toward furthering the performing arts downtown. It will be left to decide at a future meeting whether that money will be spent improving the stage at the old rec center on Church Street or investing in what might be the next best project in downtown Truckee — a performing arts center.
