Colleyville City Council will consider turning the current senior center into a multigenerational recreation center. The decision will be based in part on results of a resident survey.
The city’s 2019 Citizens Survey ended in November. Although survey results have not been published and are still undergoing review, they will be presented to City Council at its Dec. 17 meeting, Colleyville Assistant City Manager Adrienne Lothery said. City Council will then make decisions based on residents’ feedback.
The current 10,000-square-foot senior center sits at 2512 Glade Road. It opened in 2006 and has undergone minor renovations over the last 13 years, Colleyville Parks and Recreation Director Lisa Escobedo said in an email.After taking inventory of state-of-the-art recreational centers in surrounding cities, such as Southlake and Grapevine, Colleyville turned inward to see whether there were ways to enhance its own facility, she said.
“We're looking at a number of different options [for improvement] at the current location of the senior center and this property and how will it impact each resident,” she said.
The effort to turn the senior center into a true recreation facility with programming for all ages originated with the 2018 Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan. Several residents had requested the change, Escobedo said. The focus now is determining the size and scale of a potential project at the property.
The senior center is a dedicated space for older residents, but it also gets used for adult and youth activities outside of regular hours.
Certain programs, such as athletics and science camps, have outgrown the city's available spaces. The city is using Grapevine-Colleyville ISD facilities when it can, Escobedo said.
“[A true recreational center] would give us that ability to offer more and larger programs,” she said.The citizens survey gave residents several potential options for improvement, including rebuilding the facility three to four times bigger, adding a gymnasium or taking on lesser renovations.
To pay for a recreation center and operate it, Colleyville may use its general operating fund as well as special funds, such as the park land dedication fund and the parks tomorrow fund, according to a June 4 City Council presentation.
Depending on the extent of renovations, a new recreation center could also mean a potential $100-$400 annual property tax increase, according to the city.
Survey results will allow city officials to better gauge the interest of the community in a new recreation center, Escobedo said.
“[We are] being as transparent as possible with citizens to see if this is something that people are wanting in their area or [if they] are ... utilizing other facilities and they don’t necessarily want something like that in Colleyville,” she said.
