Friday, June 8, 2001
Friday, June 8, 2001 |
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PTC Council approves financing plan for $2.5 million expansion of tennis center By JOHN
MUNFORD
Voter approval won't be needed to help fund the $2.5 million final phase of the Peachtree City Tennis Center. Instead, the City Council has chosen to pay for the financing of the expansion using a program from the Georgia Municipal Association's Bricks and Mortar Progam, with payments coming from the recent increase in the hotel-motel tax. But that decision didn't come easily at last week's council meeting when Councilman Steve Rapson spoke out against the project. After learning the project has been on the drawing board for some time and has been approved by his predecessors on council, Rapson authored the motion authorizing the financing of the project. The action gave Mayor Bob Lenox the authority to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the Development Authority covering how funds from the hotel-motel tax increase would be spent. In a 1999 survey, citizens ranked a tennis center expansion as 13th on a list of 15 choices, Rapson said during the spirited discussion. Also, the project was never part of the five-year recreation master plan, he added. Based on those reasons, and the perception that the expansion was brokered "behind closed doors," Rapson said he thought the matter should be put before voters on the bond referendum. Lenox vehemently disputed the expansion was planned in secret. Other council members concurred that the process took place at public meetings. Former councilman Robert Brooks, who was replaced by Rapson after he resigned in February, explained that the expansion has been discussed for seven or eight years and was always on the drawing board. The proposed expansion would add six new covered courts, which will allow the center to host college tournaments and other more significant events. An office building is also planned to house the center's staff since it currently rents some office space off-site. The office facility would also have room for another tenant such as a regional tennis organization. Lenox argued that the planning process was public and newspapers have written stories about the plans. If council were to vote against using the newly raised hotel motel tax funds to fund payments on the project, Lenox said he would move to rescind the 2 percent hike in the tax. Lenox said he was instructed by council at its annual retreat to meet with hotel and motel operators in the city and her garnered their support for raising the hotel-motel tax based on the out-of-town visitors the expansion would draw to the city. Lenox also reported the results back to council after the retreat, he said. Rapson was not on council at the time of the retreat, but he said he attended the entire retreat and didn't hear the tie-in to the hotel-motel tax raise discussed. Rapson had indicated the $238,000 annual payment on the expansion might be better used for other city projects that meet state guidelines for spending hotel-motel tax money. "I think $2.5 million should be laid at the public's feet with the bond issue," Rapson said. "The money has to be diverted to a recreation facility that attracts tourism," Lenox said, referring to state laws requiring hotel-motel tax funds be spent on tourism-related projects and not put in the general fund. Brooks, who now serves on the Development Authority, which operates the tennis center and the amphitheater, said the decision to make the center a world-class facility with the expansion will help distinguish Peachtree City from other golf communities that will be established in the coming years. Lenox said the expansion would enhance the center's reputation and help protect property values in Peachtree City. The center is open to the public and was originally funded with impact fees issued by the city, Brooks said. "The users help us pay for it," Brooks noted, adding that citizen input on the issue was crucial to the project also. Development Authority member Jim Fulton said the original plan for the center consisted of 24 courts after phase three was completed. Currently, the center has 18 courts, six of which are clay. "It's been very public, very successful and we're proud of it," Fulton said. Council recently approved raising the hotel-motel tax from 3 percent to 5 percent, with almost all of the increase going towards the Development Authority and Airport Authority. The increase will generate an estimated $940,000 a year. The estimated annual payment for the expansion is $239,000, according to city figures.
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