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Ice rink in PTC future?Fri, 06/13/2008 - 3:31pm
By: John Munford
The Peachtree City Council was somewhat receptive toward asking its citizens to approve a proposal to build an ice skating rink and fitness center at the Highway 74 Baseball and Soccer Complex. But the current version of the proposal is likely too expensive to pass voters’ muster, council members told the project’s principal backer, fitness center owner Dar Thompson, at the council’s June 5 meeting. A staff analysis showed the annual operating costs for the city’s portion of the buildings, not including personnel, was $1.8 million a year. Under Thompson’s plan, the city would be renting the ice rinks and fitness center over 20 years but would be building and operating four basketball/volleyball courts along with two meeting rooms and a multipurpose “rink” that could be used for indoor lacrosse and soccer. Thompson said the savings in gas alone for families using the facility would far surpass the estimated $8 a month in city taxes the facility would cost each year. But, as several council members pointed out, Thompson would have to convince the voters the proposal was worthy of increasing property taxes. Thompson said his company, which operates three World Gyms in Fayette County, would like to lease the fitness center while Center Ice Inc. wants to operate the ice rink under a 20-year lease. Mayor Harold Logsdon said one option would be to develop several different proposals, including one that had just the rink and fitness center since those would be revenue-producing deals. Thompson is also proposing to have trails for cross country, jogging and passive uses. The main ice rink would seat up to 1,200 people and a secondary rink would seat 300; both would be used to host “at least four tournaments a year” for an estimated guest total of 6,000 and an estimated gross revenue of $2.4 million. Plans are to offer youth and adult ice hockey leagues along with figure skating and public skating. If the main rink’s ice is covered, it could seat up to 2,200 people, Thompson said. The facility would also include two meeting/banquet rooms that would be served by a kitchen and possibly used by civic groups. The potential “teen center” would be located above those rooms. The parking lot would have room for 850 cars, projected to be adequate for handling the tournament traffic and also serve as overflow parking for the baseball and soccer fields. If approved as initially proposed, the facilities would equate to a one-mill hike in the city budget. login to post comments
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