AVON — Officials of the YMCA of Greater Cleveland say the new

$14.2 million French Creek YMCA may be built in Avon, but it is designed to attract residents from all of Lorain County.

Plans also call for increased and expanded programming at a new $450,000 facility in Lorain, and additional YMCA programs and services offered in collaboration with Elyria’s YWCA. The new Elyria programs are expected to cost $150,000, according to YMCA of Greater Cleveland officials.

“Our key focus is that this will be a regional facility,” said Glenn Haley, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Cleveland, who said the new 66,527-square-foot YMCA will be within reach of the majority of Lorain County residents.   

Designed as the centerpiece of a 122-acre recreation-sports complex planned for state Route 611 at Interstate 90, the new YMCA will feature an eight-lane indoor pool with spectator seating, an aerobics-multipurpose studio, child-care center, family gym, sauna, steam rooms, whirlpool and wellness center.

Ground will be broken this year.

While some details of the Avon facility have been previously announced, Wednesday was the first time officials had disclosed specific plans for Elyria and Lorain.

“That’s been a big question on the minds of many people here,” Haley said. “This isn’t just an Avon facility. Our goal is to serve the entire county again.”

The $450,000 Lorain facility, known as a Y-Express Program Branch, will operate from an existing building at Community Regional Medical Center on Kolbe Road.

 “It will be a renovated facility on the main campus of CHP,” said Rick Haase, marketing manager for the YMCA of Greater Cleveland, although which building will be used hasn’t been finalized.

In Elyria, $150,000 will be spent to expand programs and services with the help of the YWCA at Holly Hall.

“We term it a non-facility branch, which means we do a lot of programming in schools and churches, in sites that are not necessarily Y buildings,” Haase said.

About $8 million of the price tag for the new Y will come from a 0.25 percent income tax levy approved by Avon voters last November that will generate approximately $1.2 million annually for 30 years.

The remaining $5.7 million of the $14.2 million cost of the facility will be generated through a fundraising campaign.

The Avon sports complex also will contain a planned 5,000-seat minor league baseball stadium slated to open in the summer of 2009. The tax revenue also will help build pay the estimated $6 million to $9 million cost for that.

Because Avon residents passed the income tax levy, they will receive discounted monthly membership rates, which typically range from $15 for teens to $76 for families. But the YMCA’s open-door policies means efforts will be made to offer its services and facilities to as many people as possible, regardless of their ability to pay, officials said. 

Operating and maintenance costs of the Avon Y will be paid for through the YMCA of Greater Cleveland, which has no connection to the defunct Y operations in Elyria and Lorain. Those were run by unrelated nonprofit agencies. The Avon facility is expected to have an operating budget of $2 million and employ 85 full- and part-time workers.

Haley said YMCAs in Lakewood, Geauga County, Columbus and Youngstown operate through similar financial arrangements that incorporate local tax revenue with money provided through fundraising efforts.

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

 

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