Dalton is home to the reigning state champion boys’ swim team at Dalton High School, and soon it will also be home to a state of the art aquatics center where crowds can watch elite swimmers from across the city, county, and region compete. The Dalton mayor and City Council gave the go-ahead Thursday at their Finance Committee meeting to start the process to issue bonds for a number of new projects including the new aquatics center.
Hull Properties has agreed to donate an 8.4 acre lot adjacent to the AMC movie theater at the Dalton Mall complex for the aquatics complex project.
The project is expected to have a budget of approximately $14 million. City leaders hope that the project will lead to economic revitalization in the area.
Mayor David Pennington said, “The lack of an aquatics center has always been a hole in our rec facilities and our rec facilities have always been something that has set us apart from other communities in Georgia. This will fill that hole in our facilities and it will help us attract other events here.”
“All the county schools have swim programs now and they basically have to share the pool at Dalton High School and that pool isn’t great for sharing… I don’t want to say anything negative about that facility but it probably wasn’t designed to be shared by so many teams and it’s not built for first class swim events.”
Mayor Pennington added, “And it helps the mall. Malls are struggling right now and the main thing they need is traffic and since the mall owner was so generous in donating the land for the project, it’s really a win-win-win for everyone involved.”
“I think the community has been looking at a competitive swimming center for a long time,” said Councilman Derek Waugh, who serves as the liaison to the Parks and Recreation Committee. “Even when I was the athletic director at Dalton State, discussions were going on for it. We’ve got a really good location, and the land is being donated which really is going to help with costs. It will be great for the community in both serving the needs of the high school swimmers… right now the pool at Dalton High School is just being overrun with all the people who want to swim… and also recreational swimmers, and a lot of other groups that could use the pool. I think it only enhances our ability to attract sports tourism and more people to live in Dalton. I think the return on investment will be tremendous.”
Councilman Gary Crews said, “I’ve gotten to know (Dalton mall owner) James Hull before he purchased the mall and we went and saw some of his plans for the mall area and once you understand what he’s planning with second-generation retail and the opportunity to build more free-standing spaces and new development out there, I feel like it’s an area where Dalton has a great opportunity to grow. As far as the location, I feel like it’s the best central location for all of the different high school teams in our area to have an equal opportunity to use the facility and it’s a slice of the city that we can really see great things happen. I appreciate Mr. Hull and his group and their willingness to work with us, they’re first class.
“I was one of the founding members of the Carpet Capital Running Club, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve moved into different ways to exercise and I think that swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay in shape and have fun. So from the kids all the way up to the masters competitions, everyone is excited about this project.”
The next steps for the project are to work on a design for the facility and to receive bids for the construction of the building. There currently is no timeline for beginning construction or completion of the project.
“We have a little bit of a head start on that because we were working on this project the last time I was mayor, but we’ve got to come up with the right plan to make sure this is the best facility that anyone can get,” said Mayor Pennington. “I have no idea how long it takes to build one of these facilities, but I’d like to think that two years from now we’d be close to having it operating. “
The city of Dalton plans to issue $20 million in bonds for the projects to be repaid over the next 20 years. The bond resolution and financing documents will be drafted in February and the process for the issuance of the bonds is expected to be completed in April. Other projects expected to be funded by the bonds include construction of an access road from Market Street to Dug Gap Road to relieve congestion on Walnut Avenue and stormwater management projects