- April 30, 2024
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New District 5 Commissioner Ray Turner made it known he wants important projects in his district to progress in a timely manner.
Turner added Premier Park as a topic on the agenda for the Aug. 8 Manatee County Commission meeting. He wanted to know how soon the public can expect to see amenities at the park.
Manatee County purchased the 127-acre Premier Sports Campus in 2017, along with an adjacent 36 acres to the north. The county added another 75-acre purchase from SMR, adjacent to the north end of the 36 acres, in 2018. Those 75 acres, along with the 36 acres, have been referred to as Premier Park.
While the county will open the Lakewood Ranch Library late this year on the Premier Park property, no common sports facilities, such as courts, fields or gyms, have broken ground.
Most of the discussion at the Aug. 8 meeting focused on the $40 million aquatics and racket center, which is 30% into the planning stage.
“How do we step on the gas?” he asked during the meeting in reference to building those facilities.
The answer was provided by Construction Services Manager Tom Yarger, who said the board needed to approve the design phase of the center to advance toward the 60% mark, from its current 30% level.
Turner’s motion to move the planning to the 60% level was passed unanimously by the board.
Presently, plans include 10 hard-surface tennis courts, 24 pickleball courts and three pools, each serving a different use. As is, the cost is estimated at $42 million with $39 million funded so far.
Discussions on the topic were limited. When Board Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge asked what each pool will cost, Yarger told him he can’t provide cost estimates on specific items until the planning reaches the 60% mark.
With 25- and 50-meter pools, plus an additional therapy pool, included in the design, Van Ostenbridge suggested the pools provide an easy place to make cuts if necessary. Deputy Director of Sports and Leisure Molly White explained the decision-making behind installing three pools.
“With an aquatics center of this size, you’d be bringing the highest level of competition to the area,” White said. “That’s due to the 50-meter.”
But a 50-meter pool alone won’t bring in the same level of competition it would alongside a 25-meter pool. White said the two work like sisters with athletes often using the 25-meter to warm up before competitions in the 50-meter.
Plans for the 50-meter pool also include diving boards, which will attract diving competitions as well as swim meets.
The therapy pool would only be about four-feet deep and is intended for people struggling with ailments such as joint pain. The park could also utilize it for classes like water aerobics.
Commissioner Mike Rahn asked if the plans allowed for water polo and synchronized swimming events to be held on the campus.
“I’m just trying to think about all the competitions we could bring into this aquatic center that would make it one of those elite facilities, like Benderson is for rowing,” Rahn said.
White said a deeper depth would be required for those types of competitions, which would change the pricing and size of the pools, but it’s been discussed by staff and can be revisited.
The aquatics building and the racket building — currently, it looks like they are connected,” Yarger said. “One of the cost savings measures that we would be considering is to separate them and make each one of them a little bit smaller, so we can save the square footage cost of that.”
The parking lot is expected to have about 500 spaces.
The matter of baseball fields versus pickleball courts was also raised. Commissioner James Satcher felt the fields were less expensive and more of a need within the community.
There are future plans for a cloverleaf design that incorporates four baseball fields, but the $39 million is earmarked for the aquatic and racket center only.
Turner cited the large number of retirees living in Lakewood Ranch and said sports fields should be a priority, but only after the pickleball courts are completed.
