DELAND — As the city continues to grow, Rick Hall thinks it's time the parks and rec department's offerings keep pace.
The goal? Design and construct a new recreation complex with a gym and athletic fields on a 13-acre site near the northwest corner of Taylor Road and the Martin Luther King Jr. Beltway. The site offers plenty of space for expansion.
"We really are at that threshold," said Hall, DeLand's director of parks and recreation. "I just think the timing is right with the growth and the culture that we live in right now, from a fitness standpoint."
Hall's department is working with CPH, Inc., a Sanford-based architectural/engineering firm, to come up with a facility that would best serve DeLand's increasing population into the future.
While the project will be largely dependent on what's funded in the next budget, the city's already got a place to put it: the location was provided to the city as part of the development of Victoria Park on DeLand's southeast side.
"The reason why the shape is so odd is they found all the wetland areas and made that the conservation area and they donated essentially developable land," Kurt Luman, vice president at CPH, said.
Despite the atypical shape, Hall is confident the city could put together a great facility for the community with a large gym and multiple athletic fields, which he said are very much needed.
The sports programs for children, including the soccer program DeLand took over from Volusia County, have grown exponentially.
Hall said the soccer program has gone from about 120 participants to 750, and the basketball program from 100 to 550.
"We have not marketed intentionally the basketball program because we don’t have sufficient space to grow that program anymore," Hall said.
The city, via an agreement, is allowed to use DeLand High School's old gym after 5 p.m. and on weekends, but the floors were destroyed about six months ago by flooding, and while the Chisholm Community Center is nice, it's not large enough, Hall said.
Phil Nolan, president of the DeLand Little League Board of Directors, agreed there is a great need for a recreational center.
"We’ve outgrown the facilities and we’re at the point now where we have to look to other cities to help us accommodate the size of the league," Nolan said at a public workshop at the Sanborn Activity and Event Center on Wednesday. "I think one of the best things a community has to offer is a place for youth to grown and develop."
Tim and Christine Bennington, who moved to DeLand a couple of years ago from the Fort Lauderdale area, said they are more than ready for such a facility because the couple and their children would regularly use it.
"I want my tax money to go toward our kids and our residents," Christine Bennington said at the workshop. "They are our future."
Contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 386-626-7280 for information on forthcoming charrettes about a future recreational facility.