Jasper approaches school board to buy back property for Regional Wellness Center
Officials are eyeing a ten-acre plot located between the Jasper High School campus and The Parklands as a potential location for the Regional Wellness Center.
Jasper Mayor Dean Vonderheide and Tri-County YMCA Executive Director Mike Steffe met with the Greater Jasper Consolidated School Corporation board of directors to present an overview of the project and ask them to consider selling the property.
Located on the west side of The Parklands, the ten acres is accessible from 15th Street and was originally part of the Jasper Country Club. As Jasper negotiated with the club and began to plan the central park that would become The Parklands in 2014, this portion was offered to the school corporation, and the corporation purchased it for about $174,000.
The City of Jasper had been working on a partnership with the Indiana National Guard for a combined project that included renovations to the Jasper Armory. However, with ownership issues–the Indiana National Guard owns the building and the ground where the center would be built–as well as changing command structures in the Indiana National Guard, the city has been considering other locations.
According to Mayor Vonderheide, the ten acres next to The Parklands is an ideal spot with its proximity to the school, the popular park and the nearby aquatic center. Additionally, it is easily accessible by pedestrians or bicyclists and provides for future expansion of the facility if needed.
Mayor Vonderheide told the school board that the Regional Wellness Center is an identified project within the Impact Jasper Comprehensive Plan. In researching the project over the past few years, planners have considered several sites in Jasper but concluded a centralized area would work best for the center.
The city has partnered with Memorial Hospital and the Tri-County YMCA in the project. The Tri-County YMCA would manage the facility, including space rental/usage, and require memberships.
The plans call for a 91,000-square-foot facility that includes an indoor 25-yard pool, an indoor track, a wellness center, specialty studios for group fitness and other activities or meetings, and three gymnasiums for basketball, pickleball or other indoor activities. Steffe said the goal is to bring more YMCA programming to Jasper.
“The programming is almost endless,” he said. “We want to bring in a bunch of community partners to help us achieve our basic goal of being a hub of community activity.”
Mayor Vonderheide stated that the center will address several issues in the community. “The governor this past year has really emphasized health and wellness across the state of Indiana,” he explained. “Cardiac disease, diabetes, obesity and mental illness seem to be our biggest problem areas. This facility can help in all of those areas.”
Vonderheide noted the plans for the center potentially include adding early learning and childcare. He told the board the lack of early learning opportunities and childcare impacts the available workforce in Dubois County.
Governor Eric Holcomb has named early learning and childcare priorities in his agenda for this year. To that, the governor issued an announcement regarding additional funding and training opportunities in those fields through the Next Level Jobs program on Monday.
Providing early learning opportunities (preschool) was common in many of the YMCAs the planning team visited. With the identified need and priority, adding the early learning program to the Regional Wellness Center could help address some of the employment needs in the area.
The school board asked how many employees would be needed to operate the Regional Wellness Center. Steffe stated ten full-time and 50 to 75 part-time, adding that a lot of the part-time positions could be filled by teens.
School Board member Arlet Jackle asked if the center would impact the Birk and Berg Bike Park located in the wooded area to the west of the ten acres. “That would not be impacted,” Steffe said.
During his presentation, Vonderheide outlined some of the funding options for the Regional Wellness Center. While not finalized, the city is making efforts to ensure property taxes are not impacted by the Regional Wellness Center.
At an estimated $37 million, the city and its partners are attempting to raise $15 million, of which $6 million in commitments have already been made from private individuals, according to Vonderheide.
They are also applying for an $8 million Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) 2.0 grant. Vonderheide also told the board they are seeking multiple grant opportunities to help bring the cost of the facility down.
Whatever is not covered by the fundraising will be included in a bond issuance. That bond will be paid back through funds collected in the city’s central Tax Increment Finance district, Economic Development funds, and the Food and Beverage Tax recently enacted in Jasper.
While the goal is not to use property taxes to pay for the bond, the city plans to include the option to use property taxes if needed as backup for the bond. The city can save up to two percent on the bond’s interest rate by doing so.
The school board plans to discuss the option and potentially decide on the sale of the property at the regular meeting in February.
