New Parks and Rec. Center proposed to Kent community

Story by Kayla Sturm

Though planning for Kent’s new health and wellness recreation center is in its initial stages, John Idone, the city’s parks and recreation director, presented the proposed concept plan to city council on April 19.

“At the meeting we talked about the finances, which are still in the early stages. We estimated about $18-20 million dollars, but would like to keep the limit to $18 million,” he said. “We want the facility to be about 90,000 square feet.”

While securing funding for a 90,000 square foot health center with fitness equipment and an elevated track, will be a major factor, Idone said the community needs this investment to promote a healthy lifestyle.

“We’re not looking at this from a cost basis, but an investment basis,” he said. “The best way to control healthcare is to promote wellness.”

Mary Parr, an associate professor of parks and recreation tourism management at Kent State, had her community development in recreation class collaborate with Idone to present the research side of health issues in the local area.

Parr had her students analyze health reports in the community to see how a new recreation center would benefit the city of Kent.

“I asked the class if they wanted to do a real life situational based project and they all got excited about it. So I contacted Idone and we figured out ways the students could get involved,” she said. “…There is a 2016 health report for Portage County that we looked at. The issues we wanted to focus on are health issues from older adults to children.”

Parr’s class learned how to interpret the reports and were able to nail down health issues in Portage County.

“One student, Carolyn Barck studied cardiovascular health in seniors. And another student, Jenna Skladany focused on mental health,” Parr said.

During the council meeting, a mental health in adult’s fact sheet that detailed the benefits of Portage County’s parks and recreation was passed around.

Included in it was research conducted by Skladany, which found that 15 percent of adults had a period of two or more weeks when they felt so hopeless they stopped doing everyday activities and 40 percent of Portage County residents have been diagnosed or treated with depression.

“A lot of time was devoted to work on it in class because, if a question came up, I would be right there to answer it for them,” Parr said.

Barck, a senior recreation park and tourism management major, discussed cardiovascular health in recreation particular in seniors.

“The more access the people have, the more active people will be, it’s that simple. So what I am trying to say, the more parks and recreational facilities we have, the more people are physically active,” said Barck.