Palm Coast government is getting ready to build a 30,000 square foot YMCA on a 12-acre city-owned parcel on Central Avenue in Town Center, next to what used to be the Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s stage and a 5-acre parcel that had been dedicated to arts and culture.
The Legislature has appropriated $8 million for the YMCA in the last two years. Absent a veto by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has yet to sign off on this year’s budget–his signature is expected at the beginning of June–the city-built, YMCA-run facility is all but ready to be designed. That would take a year. If enough funds are secured–a big if: $8 million may not cover the cost of a 30,000 square foot facility–construction would follow, and would itself take a year to a year and a half.
Plans at the moment do not include a pool, Jason DeLorenzo, chief of staff in Palm Coast government, said in a lengthy interview detailing the city’s plans, as a pool would add significant cost. “We don’t believe we have enough money to build a pool with the $8 million that we have now,” he said, “but we have discussed with the YMCA a strategy to for them to invest in the pool.” That would be part of a YMCA capital campaign. “Both parties are very interested in having a pool. We just have to figure out how to get there.” The pool would be part of a second phase of construction.
Pools are a signature of Y facilities. In Palm Coast, a pool would have a disproportionate benefit in a community chronically short of pools, with the school district’s Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club now closed to general public access, the city’s own pool having its own size limitations, and local swimming teams and organizations struggling for training time. One such conflict was the main topic of discussion at this week’s ASchool Board meeting. (See: “School Board Appears Clueless as Unexpected Conflict Over Fair Use Emerges at Belle Terre Swim Club.”) The last time Palm Coast had a Y was in 2011, when it was run out of what is now AdventHealth Palm Coast–without a pool.
Plans for a Palm Coast YMCA were announced two years ago, when the city and the Volusia-Flagler YMCA pursued a first round of state funding. (See: “Volusia-Flagler YMCA and Mayor Alfin in Big Push to Open Y in Palm Coast in About 2 Years.”) The city has since considered locating the YMCA on city-owned land at the entrance of Town Center on Bulldog Drive. But the Y was concerned about that parcel’s proximity to Planet Fitness in a strip mall across the street, which could potentially affect the Y’s bottom line: it’s still a business, which the city will not subsidize past the land grant and state construction funds.
So among the different locations that were considered, the one next to the arts site proved most attractive, especially with several existing and coming apartment complexes and housing developments within walking distance, DeLorenzo said. That had always been the intention of Town Center: to make it as walkable as possible.
But for Sam Perkovich, who for two decades led the Palm Coast Arts Foundation and is now a director on the board of United We Art, the non-profit overseeing the hoped-for development of the city’s arts district in Town Center, the city’s plan signals a direction conflicting with previous pledges, among them to devote that location to the arts. DeLorenzo presented the plan for a YMCA to the United We Art board earlier this month, with Council member Nick Klufas among the board members. There was some surprise around the table, and disapproval from Perkovich, who would later tell Mayor David Alfin that she was reserving her blessing for the plan.
“I’m all for the YMCA. I don’t want anyone to think I’m not. I think that’s great. The fact that it can be in Town Center is a great draw,” Perkovich said. “I’m all for that. But I’m not for it on that site. Plain and simple. And I indicated that to the mayor that if that’s what he was looking for, he wasn’t going to get that for me.”
To Perkovich, the city is not taking the arts seriously, even with plans to hire someone in the parks and recreations department to devote 15 hours to arts and culture (Perkovich says that’s a minute amount of time compared with the demand of such a job, if conducted appropriately), with the siting of the Y emblematic of the city’s attitude. Part of the Y plans would include playing fields that would be in back of the existing arts parcel–fields that would be removed once the arts center is built. Perkovich says she’s been in real estate long enough to know that once such things are in place, they’re not going to be removed. DeLorenzo says that wouldn’t be the case, especially since the fields would be built on land the city will have graded appropriately for a future parking lot–on land that can’t be used for that purpose now. So it would be a bridge to an improvement for the arts center.
Last year a city-hired consultant presented the concept of a $73 million, 76,000 square foot arts and culture center that would eventually hold up to 230 events a year at the location of the arts foundation stage. The city council embraced the idea, which clearly had support from the arts community, but was more reserved about its financial viability at the moment, even as arts advocate urged the city to start small, just put a roof over the existing stage, which would not be costly, and nurture the location with events. None of that has happened since. (See: “Palm Coast Council Embraces Idea of $73 Million Events Venue in Town Center’s Arts District.”)
DeLorenzo considers Perkovich’s fears unfounded. “We have reserved the area for the event center. The performing arts center doesn’t seem to be gaining any traction,” he said. “The city doesn’t have the funding. I think the estimate was $70 million dollars, or something really big number for this community to support. That doesn’t mean a performing arts center can’t happen in the future. But this site has been sitting empty, primarily empty for 20 years and this opportunity came to fruition. It’s a really good opportunity for the community as a whole, not just for youths. There’s a big community benefit to having the Y in the community, and then if they are able to raise the funds to build the pool, that’s another need in the community as well. So as city administration, we need to balance the needs of the community, and we felt we should not pass on this opportunity. I don’t think this crowds out the arts.”
He noted a different location feasible for an arts center location on private land, owned by Allete Properties, a 6-acre parcel at the corner of Park Street and Town Center Boulevard. Perkovich had been part of those conversations. She said the parcel wouldn’t have sufficient space for parking.
All that has Perkovich questioning the city’s commitments to the arts and the viability even of United We Art. “Does anybody in this city and the council and everybody, do they take the arts serious? I’m not really willing to put in much more work after 20 years without without some indication that there’s support at least for the roof and having events on that site,” she said, referring to the existing site. “I’m very skeptical that it can move forward.”
Alfin, the mayor, has other ideas. “I’m going to speak to Sam about a potential collaborative effort to fulfill her dream as well as perhaps the city and the county’s dream for a YMCA. So I’m going to see if there’s a finish line that works for everyone.”
