By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published May 16, 2003
Residents and community leaders here fear that more than $1-million in federal grants to build a bigger, better-equipped recreation center isn't being spent fast enough.
Construction on an 11,000-square-foot replacement for the aging Gardenville Recreation Center has yet to begin, leaving some Gibsonton residents and county grant coordinators to worry that the project won't meet the federal government's deadline for spending all the money within five years.
County parks officials insist the money will be spent in time, but some residents and county staff worry that construction delays will raise the eyebrows of federal grant coordinators.
"The federal government likes to see this money spent as soon as possible, because if not, they start to question whether you really need it," said Mike Rowicki, executive planner for the county's community improvement department. He expected construction to have begun six months ago.
County parks and recreation spokesman John Brill said the project has only been delayed by about eight weeks, as the staff worked to get flood insurance for the site. They also have to make sure requirements are being met for minority contractors' representation in the bidding process, which is set to open this month.
Brill said he is confident construction - now scheduled to start by the end of the summer - will take only a year or so. County Commissioner Kathy Castor said she'll be keeping an eye on the project's progress.
"We certainly don't want to lose the money, so we'll do what we need to do to get this built," Brill said.
Federal guidelines require that Community Development Block Grants, aimed at improving low to moderate income areas, be spent within five years of being rewarded. The county last year got $700,000 in CDBG grants for the new center, and another $550,000 this year, Rowicki said.
"I would have liked that $700,000 to be spent by October of 2003," he said. "It doesn't look like that will happen, which might not look good."
Gibsonton qualified for the federal grants because it is an area concentrated with low- to moderate-income families, Rowicki said.
The new center, to be built next to the existing 5,000-square-foot center, will feature a weight room, computer center, arts and crafts room and kitchen.
Expansion efforts started in 1998, when the county started designs and did some rehabilitation on the existing 77-year-old center, which is cramped and known to house termites.
As housing developments sprout up throughout Gibsonton, one of the last county areas with a hefty supply of undeveloped land, community leaders are getting impatient because they know all those new families will want a place to play.
