Two years after closing the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club to public use as it struggled to run the pool and surrounding operations there, the Flagler County School Board now appears lukewarm to a partnership with Palm Coast to co-own the future Olympic-size pool at the YMCA.
Instead, some school board members are warming to the idea of the district building its own pool and, remarkably, opening it to public use. An Olympic-size pool would cost several million dollars to build. It would place the district again in a position to manage an asset it has proved incapable or unwilling to manage.
But they’re being cautious about it: “The building of the pool is one thing, but then is the management,” Board member Will Furry, who led the charge to close Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club, said. “We don’t want to get into a similar thing where we had with the pool we have now.”
The board discussed the possibility at a workshop Tuesday in the context of a three-pronged discussion: the future Palm Coast YMCA continuing to seek a $3 million contribution from the school district (to go along with the $3 million Palm Coast government has already approved); a memorandum of understanding for a partnership between the city and the district to jointly own the YMCA pool; and an unsolicited letter by a willing buyer of a disused but prime district property on Palm Coast Parkway. The letter kick-started the discussion.
The Minneapolis-based Ryan Companies in a Feb. 20 letter to the district proposed to buy 4 of the 7.1 acres of the property at 1 Corporate Drive, where in 2016 the district demolished what used to be its district offices and, before that, the ITT headquarters in Palm Coast. The land has been vacant since. Ryan Companies, a real estate firm that specializes in commercial and health care properties, proposes buying the 4 acres for $1.9 million. “We have a committed medical tenant prepared to occupy a new facility at this location, providing essential healthcare services and creating new employment opportunities for residents in the area,” Marena Wright, the company’s director of real estate development for healthcare, wrote.
As required by law when considering a sale of public property, the district obtained two appraisals. Cooksey and Associates appraised the full 7 acres at $4.46 million. Heffington and Associates appraised the 7 acres at $6 million. Typically, governments average out the appraisals. Even if the averaged appraisals were calibrated to 4 acres, the value would be more than $1 million above what Ryan Companies is offering, though Ryan’s proposal is an opening offer “for discussion.”
The board would consider selling. But it is not interested in subdividing the property. Even if it sold the property, it has other capital needs it would consider spending the money on rather than either a pool or a partnership with Palm Coast. “I would like to see what items on our five year plan we would escalate if we receive these funds,” Board member Janie Ruddy said.
Furry and Board member Lauren Ramirez were interested in discussing the possibility of the district building its own pool. “ I don’t think it takes anywhere near $6 million to build an Olympic size pool,” Furry, who has no experience in construction, said.
That seemed to upend the ongoing efforts between Superintendent LaShakia Moore’s staff and Palm Coast staff to develop the memorandum of understanding on a pragmatic partnership that would give both governments a significant stake in the YMCA pool, while bringing the whole YMCA closer to reality.
Moore outlined the MOU’s substance in its particulars: The school district and Palm Coast would own the pool at the YMCA. The pool would be operated by the YMCA. “This is not talking about two separate pools,” Moore said. “This is one pool that would be for the community that the city of Palm Coast would work with Flagler schools to build, because we currently partner on two pools right now,” the city’s former Frieda Zamba pool, known as the Aquatic Center, and the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club pool that is still a training ground for district students.
“You’re going to consider that: yes, we’re going to go into this partnership with city of Palm Coast. No, we’re not going to go into this partnership with the city of Palm Coast,” Moore told the school board members. “We have to make some decisions. If it is yes, then great, we’ll have a pool that our students can use, and it meets the needs of both of our schools. If the answer is no, then the board is going to have to consider what’s next for the dying pool that we have, and what’s next when the pool actually comes and this Frieda Zamba pool is no longer available.” (The city will possibly close Frieda Zamba once the YMCA opens, as that facility is creaky and leaky.)
By way of a partnership, Moore said, turning to the Corporate One property, “is it possible for you to sell up this property in its entirety, or a portion of it, whichever the board decides, and use a portion of that for your agreement with the city of Palm Coast. Yes. Is it possible for you to sell this property and use a portion or all of it to expedite your five year plan. Yes. You can absolutely do that.”
Moore said the staff needs to know from the board whether to still consider a sale or to table it until the discussions with Palm Coast and the YMCA are further along. The MOU will be before the board at its April 28 workshop. At that day’s evening meeting, the board will vote on whether to accept or decline the Ryan Companies offer. It will not vote on whether to put the entire property up for sale. Not yet, anyway: the board wants to study its full inventory of its surplus properties. (The previous board got that presentation at a meeting in April 2023, which is accessible in full here.)
“We should plan so that we’re better prepared for any offerings like this,” Ruddy said.
Where that leaves the YMCA memorandum of understanding with Palm Coast is unclear.
James says
This place is a joke.
What is the purpose of all this? Is the ultimate goal to just teach students to swim?
Guess what, teach them to swim and scuba dive while integrating it into a marine biology focused ciriculum and then maybe this might make sense to me.
But then again you really don’t need an olympic size pool for that do you?
Just another day in Moron County, Florida.
James says
Or for those who aren’t interested in Marine biology… underwater welding.
James says
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rs4SswSQkA
It might be done safer with a laser welder… not sure what the “state of the art” is, but progress continues.
Eileen Curran-Bennett says
Both high schools have swim teams that compete with other counties.
The students need a pool to practice and for swim meets.
James says
Thanks, I keep forgetting this is Florida.
Skibum says
My disabled spouse has in the past taken advantage of the free membership that included physical therapy sessions at the St. Augustine YMCA. For years, that facility has partnered with Brooks Rehabilitation in order to offer hour long PT sessions to individuals suffering from various brain injuries. There are so many wonderful programs that the YMCA provides to the communities where they have facilities!
Our local school board is a joke, and although I am not surprised at their stance not wanting to partner with the YMCA, that would be just the latest in a very long list of horrible decisions made by morons who have no business representing the students in Flagler County or the community. There is no way, even if they wanted to, that the school district could provide the type of outstanding facility, the knowledgeable staff or the variety of programs that the YMCA specializes in and has been successfully doing in communities all over the U.S. for decades! I hope clearer minds prevail and the school board sees the error of their ways. Otherwise, voters should not hesitate to kick those who keep making regrettable choices not representative of our local needs out on their asses so other board member applicants with common sense and critical thinking skills can replace them.
The proposed Palm Coast YMCA facility should be built and opened for the benefit of our area’s kids and adults in partnership with the City of Palm Coast AND the school district!
Greg says
For a community the size of Palm Coast, it’s really sad. I live in Mountville, Pa. Got oiybof the rat race of Palm Cosst after 25 years. Most communities, Mountville, Lititz, Manheim, Etown, Conestoga, and most others, all have community pools. But Palm last is too cheap to build one, or maintain the one that the school already owns. Build 50000 more homes and youn might have the money to REALLY care about your community.
Allison says
I guess I am a little suspicious of the YMCA having grown up in Gainesville. The pool there was great when I was a kid. However, they were constantly begging members for money. A YMCA has membership fees. This pool was paid for and owned by the Y. Then they decided to expand and eventually when the market crashed they were out of money. In Putnam County the YMCA closed its facilities as well, leaving an abandoned and old pool that needed refurbishment. So now the Y has taken on a different tactic of partnerships with the school district and city. So they get to own the pool, meaning the Y can request improvements, maintenance and care, while still charging membership. What does the school and city get? Do homeowners get free memberships? Do students? Yes the Aquatic Center is an older (leaky and creaky) facility, but wouldn’t money be better spent to fix it then to close it, abandon it? For those not familiar the Aquatic Center is a pool for the community. They have swim lessons and starting May 23 they will be open 7 days a week. The pool is heated and they have a water fitness program and Aqua Zumba – programs people are saying they want. You can pay an admission daily, get a monthly pass, quarterly pass or a summer family pass. If more people supported the current facility, they would likely add more programs. New and shiny is not always the best and I have see the Y leave communities abandoned because at the end of the day they have to meet their soliciting goals. Start appreciating in investing in what we have instead of crying out for more – that’s why we now have several defunct golf courses because 1 or 2 wasn’t enough but then those who cried the loudest never went. I am not in favor of a YMCA and especially not one that is acting like a snakeoil salesman touting the benefits of city/school “ownership.” It just means it’ll be easier for them to bail without any strings attached once the facility is no longer making their higher ups money.