OBSERVER Photo by Gregory Bacon
JCC President Daniel DeMarte gives a powerpoint presentation to the Chautauqua County Planning Board regarding their proposed project with the YMCA.
A proposed $43 million project at Jamestown Community College that would include space for the YMCA has received first-step approval.
This is the third major project proposed by JCC to address its athletic fields in the last three years.
On Tuesday, the Chautauqua County Planning Board voted in favor of the project.
Some of the highlights of the project include:
— Shared smart classroom space for academic classes, tutoring, youth mentoring and community programming.
— Conference rooms and office suites.
— Two six-lane competition pools to accommodate JCC and YMCA swim teams and community open swim. Both pools will be American with Disabilities Act compliant and one pool will include adaptive equipment to serve those with disabilities.
— Sauna and steam room.
— Two ADA competition gymnasiums to accommodate JCC athletics, YMCA leagues and community open gym.
— High quality childcare facilities and services for infants to 5 year old children.
— After school and child watch.
— Teen center.
— Inter-Generational Center.
— Family and universal locker rooms and public restrooms.
— Shared health and wellness center and group exercise studios to include free weights, universal systems, TRX stations and cardio equipment.
— Shared flexible programming space.
— Shared storage.
— Shared outdoor area with designated recreation and comfort spaces including a playground adjacent to the daycare center.
— Two multi-use turfed fields to accommodate soccer (2), baseball (1), and softball (1).
The entire cost of the project is proposed to be $43,193,330. Of that amount JCC would be responsible for a little over $24 million. The YMCA would pay $19,189,293.
Of JCC’s amount, 50% would come from the state, 25% would come from the county and the college would be responsible to raise the remaining 25% through its foundation.
For the county portion, that amount would be around $6 million.
JCC and YMCA officials said they would like to start as early as a year from now. In order to do that, the first thing they need is the county’s approval for the $6 million. Once the county has committed to the project, the college can then seek state approval.
Once the state agrees, the college said it would begin its fundraising.
JCC President Daniel DeMarte said they are confident the state would agree to the project if the county agrees and believes they can raise the remaining portion.
YMCA officials present at the meeting said they are confident in their funding as well.
The county Planning Board reviews and ranks proposed capital projects. The county legislature does not have to agree with its recommendations, however rarely ever does the legislature move forward with a project that the planning board doesn’t back.
YMCA, JCC NEEDS
DeMarte noted that its physical education complex is the most used building on the campus. “That building sees more activity than any other, not just from an athletic perspective and the teams that use that building, but also from the community perspective,” he said.
He gave examples of how it is used for medical events, cheerleading and other community events.
The building is now more than 40 years old and requires some upgrades. “We can’t continue on the current pace to fixing parts of the building,” he said, noting it needs a complete overhaul.
For several years, Jamestown Community College has been trying to upgrade its athletic fields. The college has been complaining that many high schools have better athletic fields than they do. They’ve also expressed concerns that poor athletic fields hurts their recruitment around the nation and internationally. Athletes not from Chautauqua County are often the students who rent dorm space and non-New York residents who attend JCC pay higher tuition rates.
Back in 2022, DeMarte asked the county to consider paying $941,000 to upgrade their soccer field. While County Executive PJ Wendel agreed and made it part of his budget that year, the legislature pulled that funding out of the budget. Instead, they said they wanted to look at upgrading Russell Diethrick Park and have it available for the entire community.
JCC returned to the county with plans in hand. That project was proposed to cost $30 million. Another complexity of it was that Russell Diethrick Park is actually owned by the city of Jamestown and the state would likely require JCC own it before agreeing to fund its share. The city never agreed to transfer ownership.
Meanwhile, the YMCA’s center is more than 100 years old. They, too, are having difficulty making improvements there.
The YMCA had taken ownership of property on Harrison Street for a new campus there. For several years now, the organization has been seeking funds to build a new 68,000-square-foot facility on Harrison Street in Jamestown, which had a $30 million price tag.
The two projects, if done separately, have a combined cost of $60 million, while the combined project has a $43 million cost.
DeMarte said they have a similar partnership at their Olean campus, however there the YMCA is not physically on JCC property. In this proposed scenario, the YMCA would be physically on college land.
In some of the drawings proposed, DeMarte noted there are sections that are for YMCA only, sections for JCC only and sections that would be shared. He said if approved, the college and YMCA would need to negotiate costs for things like heating and repairs.
County Planning Board members seemed to like the shared concept proposal even more than previous proposals.
When DeMarte first requested in 2022 a new soccer field, the project was ranked very low by the Planning Board.
Then after DeMarte proposed the $30 million upgrade to Diethrick Park, the project was approved by the Planning Board by a 6-2 vote.
On Wednesday, the Planning Board unanimously approved the shared YMCA/JCC project.
NEXT STEPS
The county executive was in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting. Wendel said he’s already prepared his budget for 2025 and will be presenting it to the county legislature on Sept. 25. Even though this project would not be part of the 2025 budget, Wendel said it’s possible the project could still move forward now. “We need to find out what kind of obligation is required from the county,” he said.
He would like to see JCC make a formal presentation to the county legislature and see it reviewed by the lawmakers to address their questions and find out if this is something they will get behind.
DeMarte said if the county agrees to fund its portion, then JCC can make a request to the state and it can go before the governor’s office this spring for its budget.
The state budget runs April 1-March 31. If it’s part of the state budget, then JCC can begin the process of going out to bid in late 2025.
DeMarte said if this project moves ahead, they will use Diethrick Park less in the future and could eventually stop using it altogether.