Aquatics center proposal raises questions at Marion City Council meeting

MARION — There’s plenty of interest and attention toward the city of Marion’s proposed aquatics center project. Now, city officials are asking if there’s enough time.

City council members on Tuesday heard results of a community survey conducted last month to measure respondents’ support for the project at various scopes and pricing levels. Mailers were sent to every residence, and the city received 3,240 responses.

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Survey results showed that residents are generally supportive of an effort to replace the current city pool — but only if the city can bring the asking price down from the $42 million minimum included in the survey.

“I’m concerned about the time we’ve got left on this,” Ward 4 Council member Sara Mentzer said after hearing the results. “This is supposed to be a November vote, and we're still talking about whether it’s going to work or not” in mid-August.

City officials identified the replacement of the existing pool as a priority during Marion’s most recent ImagiNEXT community visioning process.

The existing pool — located at Willowood Park — was built in 1987 and has outlived its useful life. The city is facing costly repairs on a near-annual basis, and it is likely that the next major equipment failure will force a permanent closure.

Officials hope to address that issue with the construction of the new aquatics center between 31st and 34th streets south of Munier Road, although that project is contingent upon the passage of a voter-approved bond referendum.

The July survey was conducted to measure potential support for such a referendum, and the results were analyzed by research company Community Perceptions.

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In the survey, residents were presented with two base options — one with a wave pool and one without — as well as a series of "alternatives" or additional amenities.

Both options included a recreational pool for younger children and their guardians, lazy river, dive pool, lap pool and related parking and street infrastructure. Option one had a cost of $42.4 million while the wave pool drove option two up to $46 million.

Option one had the strongest support at 54 percent of respondents saying they would support the project. Approval dropped to 45 percent for option two. Neither rose to the 60 percent approval mark needed for a bond referendum to pass under Iowa code.

Still, Community Perceptions project manager Scott Girard told council members that the results point to the conclusion that residents could still pass a bond referendum if the price were to go down from surveyed totals.

“Generally speaking, support for projects increases as cost and tax impact decrease,” Girard said. “More (than half) of your community says they would be open to something than nothing, but a $42 million referendum doesn’t quite get you there.”

City staff are consequently recommending council members move forward with the base project without the wave pool. Updated cost estimates say the price to do so hovers around $40.9 million.

To bring the referendum down even further, staff are proposing utilizing other funding sources to cover certain planning costs and related road improvements. Around $1 million is proposed to be pulled from airport bonds and another $4 million from the local options sales tax (LOST) fund.

As proposed, that would bring the total bond referendum down to $35.9 million.

Still, several council members questioned whether that decrease is enough to garner the number of affirmative votes needed to pass the bond on the Nov. 4 ballot and whether there is enough time to educate voters on the issue.

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Others members questioned the use of LOST dollars on an amenity-focused project rather than essential municipal improvements, as well as potential impacts from the project on the city’s self-imposed debt limit.

“It does just feel tight all around financially and with the timeline at this point,” said Ward 1 Council member Gage Miskimen. “All the dollars that the city of Marion has are residents’ dollars, and our survey results don’t show a clear mandate to pursue this project” at this time.

Draft bond language will be presented at the council’s Sept. 2 work session and a resolution will be discussed Sept. 4 as to whether to move the issue forward to the Nov. 4 ballot and if so, at what scale.

City Manager Ryan Waller said additional information on the debt capacity impacts will be gathered ahead of the work session. At that time, information also will be provided for the property tax impacts of a smaller $35.9 million referendum.

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