City Council approves rec center
Published 6:32 pm Monday, June 6, 2016
The $35 million rec center is a go.
Austin City Council passed two motions 5-2 at its regularly scheduled meeting Tonight.
The decision comes after four years of talks and more recently, a few heated negotiations.
At negotiation meeting just a few weeks ago, Mayor Tom Stiehm said the YMCA officials, Vision 2020 Community Recreation Center Committee officials and city officials were at an impasse.
But then at the last city council work session, the council voted 5-2 to approve a lease agreement and conditional purchase agreement and it voted the same way again Monday. Council members Michael Jordal and Jeremy Carolan votes no.
The vote paves the way for the city to acquire the downtown Austin Municipal Plant for about $2 million for Vision 2020 to build the Austin Community Recreation Center at the site. Plans call for the facility to be operated by the Austin YMCA, and facilities will include a new Y and community spaces.