Kent City Recreational Center

Kent State University to expand recreational facilities

On November 7, 2017 Issue 8, the Kent City Health and Wellness Center Bond, which was going to build a recreation center for the city of Kent, failed with a vote of 2,257 to 1,554.

Many locals said that the reason this issue failed was because Kent State’s Student Recreation and Wellness Center made it unnecessary. However, now that Kent State has a ten-year master plan being enacted by President Beverly Warren, this recreation center may happen after all.

The proposed 72,000-square-foot recreation center was slated to include an indoor turf field, an elevated walking track and fitness classrooms. The open lot where it was set to be built, located directly across the street from Fred Fuller Park, is roughly a two-mile drive from campus.

With the failing of Issue 8 on the ballot, the director of Kent Parks and Recreation, John Idone, had to think of options moving forward.

“We may need to rethink the project. If there’s enough interest to put it back on the ballot in the future, we will,” said Idone.

However, with Kent state University partnering with SmithGroupJJR, a planning firm, there are plans to expand recreational services. The initial deal was a 28-year bond that was predicted to cost taxpayers $2.88 million. However, in that same 28 year span, it was predicted that this recreation center would generate $17.5 million.

Still, it was not enough to persuade the public vote. With a partnership between the city of Kent and Kent State University, this could help to lift some of that burden from the taxpayers themselves.

Kent State has already began to take on a health and fitness initiative by adding in recreational space to Tri-Towers. This collaboration to expand could further Warren’s initiative to become a healthier campus.

Though both Kent State University and the city of Kent have both agreed that this something worthwhile moving forward, no plans or meetings have been set to start the process. Idone was unable to comment on the joint rec center for this reason.

Steven Langdon, marketing coordinator for the Department of Recreational Services at Kent State, is also unaware of what is coming.

“Our director doesn’t even have full control or visibility over the campus master plan, or what they referred to as ‘long-range facilities plan,’” said Langdon.

While neither side has the answers yet as to what will happen with this joint endeavor, Langdon was able to provide insight to what the community engagement is like at Kent State’s SRWC.

Langdon said that, not including Kent State faculty, staff and students, there are currently 1,984 community members who hold memberships to the Kent State rec center. This number is higher than the number of votes that Issue 8 received in favor, which is likely the reason that it failed. With locals already coming to Kent State’s facilities, the expansion collaboration could just give them more access to these types of things.

While Michael Bruder, Kent State’s Executive Director of Facilities, Planning and Design, refused to comment, Kent State’s spokesman, Eric Mansfield commented instead.

“While there are no specific plans in place,” Mansfield said, “we remain open to working with city leaders to meet the recreational needs of the community.”

With little known into the future, it is hard to say what exactly Kent State plans to do in terms of it’s recreation expansion. However, with the joint center still a possibility, the university could see a new center altogether.