Wellness feasibility study examines potential sites
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This artist rendering shows the layout of a rec facility at the REC location.
The Mount Ayr city council recently received the feasibility study for potential recreational facilities in the city.
The 70-page report from Stone Planning is comprised of sections devoted to potential facilities, a market analysis, site analysis, case studies of similar facilities, funding analysis, operational analysis, and summary conclusions.
In the coming weeks the Record-News will examine each section of the report in detail.
[Text for these articles comes directly from the Stone report, with minor editorial changes.]
Last week’s article focused on the existing pool and other potential facilities.
This week’s article reviews the five sites Stone Planning analyzed for new recreational/wellness and/or pool development. Suitability for development will consider site characteristics such as location and proximity to other land uses, size and configuration, access, ownership, and others.
The sites to be considered are:
1. Judge Lewis Park,
2. Rural Electric Cooperative,
3. Mount Ayr Elementary School,
4. Mount Ayr Middle/High School, and
5. Ringgold County Hospital.
Judge Lewis Park
Judge Lewis Park, the current site of the pool, is one site closely analyzed in the 2017 ISU Community Design Lab study.
In the future, it is expected to be able to potentially accommodate pool and/or fitness/wellness facilities.
Characteristics of the site, according to the ISU study, include:
• It is accessible to the community despite its location on the west side of the city.
• New or renovated offerings would fit well within the park and add desired amenities in the park.
• Development of larger facilities would take away parking needed for softball and other large park uses.
• The land is already owned by the city.
• It would provide for a built-in reuse of the current pool site.
• There would be a reduced need for new vegetation to be added.
• The footprint of the current pool and bathhouse is roughly 45,000 square feet or one acre. Green space surrounding the pool could add additional land to build on.
The image above shows a hypothetical rendering of an indoor facility and pool at this site, from the ISU study.
Rural Electric Cooperative
The Rural Electric Cooperative site is on the far west side of Mount Ayr, next to Judge Lewis Park and the current pool. This was another site considered in detail in the ISU study.
Characteristics of the site, according to the ISU study, include:
• Although it is on the west side of town, “it is still quite accessible to the rest of the community on bike or on foot.”
• A facility on this site would have great visibility from the highway and has ample land that would provide for flexible design options and parking.
• Because the land is not owned by the city, it would have to be purchased from the Southwest Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative (approximately 5.8 acres for $61,400, according to a 2017 REC offer, based on an appraisal).
• A facility at this site would provide an opportunity to extend the reach of park trails.
• Stone estimates that this site is approximately 224,000 square feet, or 5.1 acres.
The image on the front page shows a hypothetical rendering of an indoor facility and pool at this site, from the ISU study. The built component (including parking and landscaping) covers approximately 75 percent of the site, or approximately 170,000 square feet.
Mount Ayr Elementary School
Potentially available land at the Elementary School site is located to the west of the school.
Identified characteristics of this site include the following:
• Due to the limited size of land that is potentially available, this site is thought to be able to accommodate a wellness facility only.
• The presence of underground geothermal wells further reduce usable land on this site. These wells are located at the north end of the site, which makes part of the area identified to the right unusable for a new facility.
• A daycare facility is located across Jefferson, to the north, which could provide benefits to facility users and families.
• Benefits from proximity to the school could include use of the gymnasium (which is considered to be more available than the middle and high school gyms), use of other school space that could be available, and sharing of resources with the school.
• Stone estimates that this site is approximately 35,000 square feet, or 0.8 acres.
Mount Ayr Middle/High School
Greenspace on the middle/high school property is another site being considered for facility development; this site option is being considered for a wellness facility only.
Identified characteristics of this site include the following:
• Available land includes two non-contiguous parcels: land to the immediate east of the school and land south of a parking lot.
• The land south of the parking lot is owned entirely by the school, but the site to the east of the school includes school-owned land as well as privately-owned land.
• The smaller site immediately east of the school is approximately 35,000 square feet, or 0.8 acres. The site to the south is approximately 55,000 square feet, or 1.3 acres. The two sites combined are approximately 2.1 acres.
Ringgold County Hospital
The Ringgold County Hospital features greenspace to the south and east/northeast of the hospital and its parking lot are potential options for facility development.
Identified characteristics of this site include the following:
• The land is owned by the hospital and would have to be acquired by the city, presumably either through a purchase or donation.
• A new pool or facility could share the hospital’s existing parking lot (a need for some incremental parking may be identified).
• Stone estimates that this parcel includes nearly 1.5 million square feet, or more than 33 acres.
[Next week’s article will compare the characteristics of similar facilities in operation in other towns.]
