Jonesboro seeks to build aquatic center, will tour water parks in other cities for facility ideas, financing options

Jonesboro city officials hope to formulate a plan in the coming months to build an aquatic center, Mayor Harold Perrin told Talk Business & Politics. It’s been discussed for years, and with the growth rate in the city, it’s becoming a necessity, he said.

“We’re growing so fast … it’s time for us to build one,” Perrin said. “We’d like to have a proposal put together in the next three to four months.”

When the mayor served on the city council several years ago, numerous proposals were pitched. The costs ranged from $8 million to $35 million depending upon facility size and services it offered. The city is formulating an aquatic center concept from the ground up, Perrin said.

The city hopes to build an indoor pool, and other smaller pools that could be used for those trying to rehab or other purposes. A secondary component will be a theme park that could be built and operated by a private company. Several companies have approached the city about this possibility, he added.

“This has the excellent potential to turn into a public-private partnership,” Perrin said.

A site for the center and finite costs have not been determined, yet, Perrin said. To figure out the best way to build and pay for the project, Perrin, and city officials will take several road trips to other aquatic parks in the state and region to study how those were built. On Monday officials visited the recently built aquatic center in Pocahontas.

Voters in Pocahontas passed a 1-cent sales tax in 2014 to pay for the $10 million aquatic center. The sales tax has a sunset clause, meaning that half of the tax will expire once $7 million of the construction cost is paid, according to information released by the city. It has a large, indoor, competition quality pool, splash pad, outdoor pool, and other features. Jonesboro has more than one splash pad in the city already, so it’s unlikely to be part of any proposal, Perrin said. While touring that center, Perrin said he spoke at length with Pocahontas Mayor Kary Story about the entire process.

Fort Smith and Sebastian County partnered in 2014 to build an almost $11 million water park that included three bodies of water, a 500 foot lazy river and four water slides for a total footprint of more than 20,000 square feet. It opened Memorial Day in 2015. Rogers, in Northwest Arkansas, opened an almost $13 million water park in early 2014.

“We hope to learn from other cities successes and what they would do differently if they could go back,” the mayor said.

Future trips are planned to aquatic centers in Rogers, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and other sites, according to information released by the city. At each stop, a research binder will be brought in, and meticulous notes will be taken.

How the city will pay for this project will be determined by what the final proposal will be, and if a public-private partnership can be developed, he said. Possible revenue streams could include, but are not be limited to a sales tax hike, use of reserve capital improvement funds, or other monies the city has in reserve or in the yearly budget.

Officials will take special notice at these aquatic centers about how they were paid for, do they charge fees or memberships, how much they charge for either, the number of people employed, and the cost of upkeep and maintenance.

Perrin said an aquatic center would be beneficial to residents in the city, and especially high school swim team members. Tournaments could be held, luring visitors and valuable tourism dollars to the local economy, he said. Jonesboro doesn’t want to mimic any other aquatic center; the mayor wants to build something unique to the state, similar to the Miracle League field that was dedicated almost two years ago.

The field and its complex are state-of-the art, with a quiet room for autistic children, and the facility and field itself are much larger than other complexes that cater to special needs individuals, he said. The approach to building the Miracle League complex was similar to the approach that’s being used to formulate a viable aquatic center concept, Perrin said.

“There’s really no question … this is something our community needs,” the mayor said. “But, we want and need to do our do diligence before any decisions are made.”