By Greg Siems

Vision 2020 director

The dedicated and passionate volunteers with Vision 2020, from the beginning, have appreciated the value of historic preservation. Our Utilities Building committee worked for years to study possible redevelopments of the power plant site, and many different options were explored. Despite the best efforts of many creative people, no private developers stepped forward to take on the project, and no other major stakeholders expressed support for what would have been an exceedingly expensive endeavor.

We were certainly disappointed by this outcome, but there is, in fact, a positive way forward. This solution will respect the history of the power plant site while creating a fantastic new public asset — a community recreation center. The Vision 2020 Community Rec Center committee, for their part, explored many possible locations, and this one emerged as the clear winner.

Think of all the great benefits of having a rec center at such a prime location in the heart of Austin. It will be right next to the library, the senior center, arenas, bike trails, waterways, and downtown businesses. It will be easily accessible for people from all corners of town, especially kids that are getting out of school and need a place to go. This would be a truly transformative structure that will serve as a hub for future development and a living symbol of our community’s continued progress.

The benefits of a rec center at this site to our community would be many, and trying to utilize a different location would greatly reduce its impact. Developing the area near the post office, for instance, would require the use of eminent domain to remove people from their homes and businesses. All other possible locations sit outside of the downtown area, which would make it harder for many folks to access everything the rec center will have to offer. We truly want this to be a community facility, and moving out of downtown would work against that goal.

At the same time, in recognition of the power plant’s historic nature, the new rec center would preserve as much of its character as possible. This could, for instance, include the old turbine room (which has served as the main gallery for the Artworks Festival in the past) and the original facade with the iconic “Austin Municipal Plant” sign. You can see a preliminary sketch of what the building might look like below. We have such a unique opportunity to marry the old and the new with this project, and we can’t wait to get started.

We are confident that the time to act is now. We shouldn’t continue brainstorming about what to do with the power plant when it could very well become a financial and safety liability. Shouldn’t we move forward decisively to create something positive out of this situation? Construction costs are only going up, and we know there is dedicated private financial support to proceed with a rec center at the power plant site. Why wait any longer to create what will be an incredible public asset that reflects the spirit and history of our town?

Our volunteers are working hard to finalize the initial proposal for the site. Once complete, it will go before the City Council for a vote. We hope we can count on your support. Community input has been a critical part of this process, especially through the 2013 community survey (which is freely available at vision2020austin.com) and the many public forums that were held before and since. This process of engagement will continue as we move forward to determine the kinds of amenities the new recreation center will offer. Please look for more news and invitations in the coming months.

All of us at Vision 2020 are excited to see this great project moving along, and we hope you are too. Together we can create a new community facility that all of us can be proud of.