by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Within the next few years, downtown may have a swim facility that would make the University of North Florida’s natatorium look like a kiddie pool. That’s not a slight to UNF, but what organizers are planning would be a world-class facility capable of handling international swim meets and every other aquatic-based sport, rehabilitation program and water safety program.
Destined for somewhere near the developing sports complex, the $37 million facility will have two Olympic-size pools, a 16-foot deep diving pool complete with two one-meter and two three-meter pools and two platforms. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Local attorney and former Olympic gold medalist, Nancy Hogshead-Makar, is the president of Every Jacksonville Child a Swimmer, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to not only bringing such a facility to fruition, but also assuring that every child in the Jacksonville area is afforded the opportunity to at least learn to swim and possibly take up the sport as an active pastime or passion.
Hogshead-Makar (who was out of town and couldn’t be reached for comment) is joined on the EJCS committee by several other prominent citizens who have spent a lifetime associated with swimming at every level. One of the most active members is swimming legend Rogers “Tiger” Holmes. Along with several others, Holmes hosted a presentation at City Hall Tuesday by Scot Hunsaker, president of Counsilman/Hunsaker & Associates, Inc. The St. Louis-based company has designed, planned and engineered 480 natatoriums all over the country. What Hunsaker showed the gathering Tuesday was a facility matched only by the natatoriums in Indianapolis and at Ohio State University, complete with pools with floors that adjust from a depth of seven feet to deck level to both an indoor and outdoor water park.
There are several reasons EJCS wants to build the facility but at the top of the list is education. Considering Jacksonville is almost completely surrounded by water, Holmes and others believe that such a facility, if properly used, could make Jacksonville-area drownings a thing of the past.
“The key is making the community of Jacksonville water safe,” said Hunsaker. “There are so many natural bodies of water. Drowning is the third leading cause of death in the state.”
Holmes stressed the project is still in the proposal stage, but his committee has adopted a mission statement that says they’d like to see the facility complete sometime in 2004.
“We are just launching this,” said Holmes. “This committee has been formed and is working and Nancy Hogshead-Makar is the head. We are committed to giving every child in Jacksonville the opportunity to swim and we are committed to this project. That’s our motivating factor.”
If built, the natatorium could become the unofficial Olympic training facility of the South. And, because every local high school pool no longer meets specifications (the pool must be at least five feet at the starting blocks and in most pools that means only two of the lanes meet that requirement), the center would become the home to high school swim meets, featuring several schools at one time. Hunsaker added that during his company’s feasibility study they determined that while Jacksonville has lots of public pools, very few of them are used year-round.
“There are 30 public facilities in Jacksonville and all of them are outdoors,” said Hunsaker. “It isn’t a problem with having space, but they [public pools] are not shaped right and they are not available. We can host high school meets and not be closed to the public. And, there is economic benefit to to hosting regional, national and international meets.
“The facility would be able to accommodate all four water sports: swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water polo. It will also benefit the community with swim programs, water aerobics and aqua therapy.”
Hunsaker estimated that the facility would require between 15 and 20 acres of land, a year to design and a year to a year and a half to build. With the 2005 Super Bowl just under three years away, completing the facility before the game may not be possible. Because planners want the facility in the sports complex area, and understanding that the NFL doesn’t want the site to resemble a construction zone, organizers concede that the project may not get underway until sometime after the game in 2005. Considering that EJCS was formed in 1987 and the group has been pursuing such a facility ever since, waiting a little longer doesn’t bother any of them.
At this point, the main objective of EJCS is to locate a site and obtain the funding. With a $37 million price tag — $3 million of which they estimate will be spent to buy the land — organizers said the facility will require creative funding.
“It will be a joint venture with both public and private funding,” said committee member Allen Poucher. “Ten million will come from private while $27 million will come from public. The facility will eventually become City-owned.”