Rec Yeah Forum aims to educate voters prior to Election Day

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - With Election Day two weeks away, the campaign to expand and renovate the North Platte Rec Center was a topic of discussion during a town hall form Tuesday.

The North Platte Area Wellness & Recreation Alliance held a Q&A session to address the Rec Center renovation and expansion project. The forum aimed to educate, empower, bring awareness to the $52.5 million project.

Those in attendance also learned more about “Proposition 1,” the bond, if enacted, would help pay for the project using a half cent sales tax increase. Preliminary figures show the sales tax would generate around $3.2 million annually. The proposed additional half-cent sales tax would sunset when the bond is paid off.

“It will fund the Cody Pool improvements and it would fund the relocation of the skate park,” said committee member Megan McGown. “We included the skate park as part of the project because the expanded Rec Center will be built over the top of the existing skate park and it’s a used amenity in the community so we want to provide another space for that.”

The project includes additional tennis and basketball courts for volleyball and pickleball tournaments. It also includes an indoor track, expanded cardio and weight rooms, as well as two swimming pools. One of the pools will be a competitive pool that will be used for swimming competitions.

The North Platte Recreation Center was built in 1976 and has served as a community hub for physical fitness as well as for social opportunities for a wide variety of ages and backgrounds. The nearly 50-year-old recreation center has had regular maintenance to keep the facility operational; however, the building has not undergone any significant improvements during the past 46 years. The infrastructure is aging and requires more and more maintenance expenditures, with necessary infrastructure replacement looming in the near future.

The Scottsbluff YMCA has expressed interest in managing the property.