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Organizers of a proposed $25 million recreation facility for the University of Maine held a public forum Thursday, announcing that a site on Rangeley Road has been selected as a favorite.
Supported by President Peter Hoff, the proposed site is located in the Maine Center for the Arts parking lot, encompassing 400 parking spaces toward the east end of the lot near Rangeley Road, according to Malcolm Collins, a planner with SMRT Inc., a Portland architecture firm working on the project.
The site is located near the center of campus and a main entrance, allows room for expansion, and has minimal environmental impact, Collins said.
“It has only one major negative trait, and that is it displaces quite a number of parking spaces,” he said. “To eliminate a great site because of its impact on parking, we would say, is a little short-sighted.”
The site also has sufficient access to existing infrastructure, including gas and steam lines, and is within a five-minute walk of two-thirds of the university’s residence halls, Collins said.
The SMRT team scored the sites – the Rangeley location not among the original six proposals – and were encouraged not to favor a site based only on parking, Collins said.
The 84,000-square-foot facility will also require its own 200 spaces, which could be constructed adjacent to the facility with the removal of the Belgrade “spur,” which connects the Belgrade Road and Rangeley Road, according to Bill Charland, the project’s construction manager.
The 400 spaces that would be lost with the facility’s acre and a half footprint on the MCA lot would be made up for with an expansion of the Stewart and Hilltop lots, Charland said.
Construction of those parking spots would be completed before work begins on the recreation center, said Janet Waldron, UMaine’s vice president of administration. Some of the costs incurred through the expansion of the Stewart and Hilltop lots would be funded through the project’s $25 million budget, she said.
Organizers are building off a recently completed study of the university’s traffic system, performed by the Bangor Area Comprehensive Transportation System, to develop public transportation and parking for the recreation center, Waldron said.
In November of 2002, UMaine students were surveyed by e-mail about their preferences for a new recreation center, and chose a site close to the proposed Rangeley location, Collins said.
“There were champions of each site,” he said. “The students seemed to focus on or favor a site near the MCA.”
A recreational facility constructed on that site, however, would have crowded the MCA building, Collins said.
Parking during the evening, when both the MCA and the new center would be busiest, shouldn’t be a problem with the Rangeley site because students will likely walk to the center from nearby residence halls, Waldron said.
A site next to the Rangeley location, near the Doris Twitchell Allen Village Community Center, was dismissed because of its proximity to a protected wetland area, Collins said. Permitting and Department of Environmental Protection requirements would have made construction on the site expensive, he said.
A proposed location near the Maynard F. Jordan Observatory was also dropped from consideration because of crowding issues, as well as potential traffic problems, including accessibility to Memorial Union’s loading docks, Waldron said. Sites next to Lengyel Gym and in the Stewart lot would have required clearing trees to make room for construction, she said.
Students will pay $90 per semester to use the facility, which will include multipurpose athletic courts, an indoor track, a lounge, a 10,000-square-foot swimming pool and a sauna. An 11,000-square-foot fitness center, more than twice the size of Latti Fitness Center in Memorial Gym, is also planned. Students currently pay $35 per semester to use Latti, a charge that would be eliminated with the new center, Waldron said.
The university’s organized sports teams will continue to use Latti, but will not be permitted use the new recreation center, Waldron said. The teams would have permission to renovate or expand Latti, she said.
The public will also have some access to the new center, Waldron said.
Project organizers hope to formally decide on a site for the new recreation center by the end of the month, Waldron said. A grand opening is planned for the fall of 2006.
