It’s been a long time coming, but Grand Junction is finally getting a recreation center after a vote passed to up the sales tax in order to pay for it.
The original idea for a recreation center was pitched in the 1970’s. When the idea fell through, the rec center was dropped for a while. According to Colorado Public Radio, the concept wasn’t suggested again until the 2000’s when then Grand Junction High School senior, Lucas Bullen, decided that it would benefit Grand Junction to have one. He made it his senior project, finding himself in the midst of city council meetings. The council also invited local gym owners who were against the idea, and the ballot measure eventually failed, even though he got an A on the assignment.
Another vote for the recreation center was proposed in 2019, a few decades after Bullen’s project wasn’t successful. It also failed. After another failed vote, two decades of hope are finally coming into fruition.
Last April, the vote to build a recreation center ended at 10,954 for and 7,177 against, effectively passing a sales tax increase to fund the $70 million investment. The sales tax increase is .14% and will be in place until 2054. Although the recreation center is expensive to build, the total repayment is expected to be $148.5 million, more than double the original cost. (From KKCO 11 News).
The new recreation center will be built at Matchett Park off of Patterson, just past 28 ¼ Rd. The center will include a warm water leisure pool, lap lanes, waterslides, a gym, fitness center, walking track and several other amenities. “I think it will be a great addition to the community. During the summer, the pool at Lincoln Park gets very busy and it will be nice to have an alternative to that pool in Grand Junction. It’s also a good way to keep kids involved in activities that are healthy and productive,” says Anna Johnson, a mom of Fruita kids who live in the Redlands.
Matchett Park is in the center of many important areas in Grand Junction. It’s about eight minutes from Central High School, and the same distance to Grand Junction High School. Having the recreation center in such a central location will help students from both schools have a place to come together to exercise or swim. It could also benefit the swims teams from those schools, who have previously had to share facilities at CMU for practices.
The nearby businesses may also see an uptick in customers who come to the recreation center and are also interested in the other businesses. Plus, it can serve as another tourist attraction, bringing in people from outside of Grand Junction who want a place to go with their family while on vacation.
The current tentative plan is for the rec center to open in late 2025. That may seem like it’s a ways away; however, construction has not yet started, and it is a big project, so the two years it will take is well worth the wait for a project that has been in the works for decades.
