Silverthorne officials identified a need for a recreation center expansion around 15 years ago. With a growing population and an increase in use, officials are saying it’s inevitable the town will outgrow the facility and its capacity limits soon. 

With the center filled to the brim during peak times, the town is looking into possible solutions. 

The town is currently working on a design concept for a 23,000-square-foot expansion of the recreation center. In efforts to expedite this process, the town is introducing a ballot measure in the April 2 municipal election that would take lodging tax from 6% to 8% in order to provide funding for this project and other capital improvement projects. 

The expansion is not off the table if this ballot initiative doesn’t pass, but if voters reject the ballot measure, it could cause funding issues and delays

The town could move forward with funding the project without the increase, but it would come at the expense of other capital improvement projects and could cause delays. The town could also push the project back if the measure doesn’t pass, but finance director Laura Kennedy told council members at a Feb. 28 meeting that this option wasn’t ideal. 

“In 10 years from now, it will probably cost twice as much,” Kennedy said. “We just won’t be able to continue to do community-benefiting projects because we will be paying back the debt.”

Currently, Silverthorne is planning to put $27 million toward the expansion, but that could increase if the town were to push back the project. 

Town staff said they will have a better idea of a timeline for planning and construction after the April municipal election. In the meantime, they are continuing planning efforts.

Silverthorne brought in a recreation consultant and an architect to aid in creating a design concept for an expansion — a plan Silverthorne Town Council reviewed at its Feb. 28 meeting. Council learned at its March 13 meeting that even more conceptual renderings for the expansion have been nailed down. 

Recreation specialist Chris Kastelic and architect Jordan Lockner presented what the expansion could look like. 

Over half of the square footage for this 23,000 square foot expansion will be for a multipurpose gym. Kastelic said the new 12,000-square-foot area would not be a traditional gym and would allow more uses and activities than the current one. 

“It’s not a wood court gym where it’s just basketball and volleyball. It’s a resilient court gym,”Kastelic said. “So this can be used for everything from quidditch to laser tag to dodgeball, martial arts, kids tumbling.”

This area is also slated to get an updated and improved space for gymnastics, Kastelic said, given the community’s interest and growing gymnastics program. 

Kastelic also said they plan to add around 1,100 square feet of fitness area to the center that will also house some more equipment.

The town is also hoping to fill what it said is a deficiency in its programming by adding a space for licensed school-age programming. Staff explained this would operate like a day camp Monday through Friday. 

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Recreation and culture director Joanne Cook said the town clarified with a licensing representative that when this area is not being used for licensed care and that it can be used by other community groups for things like birthday parties. The youth area is programmed to be 2,100 square feet in size. 

Council were fans of another new concept being introduced to the recreation center — a lounge/viewing area. 

Kastelic explained to the council that a goal with this design concept is to open things up. He said the team aimed to design something that wasn’t too hallway-heavy and created a more spacious feel. The lower-level of the recreation center is slated to have an area where people can sit and watch the activities happening in the multipurpose gym. 

Council members who were parents particularly liked the idea of being able to sit and get things done in the lounge area while also keeping an eye on their kids. 

“It’s great to have a separate viewing area for gymnastics. … You have siblings that come in watch and parents that are watching, and it gets very distracting for the participants,” Council member Amy Manka said. 

Other additions include administrative areas, such as offices, which will account for 4,150 square feet and areas for circulation, such as open space and hallways, which will be 650 square feet. 

While council was on board with a majority of the concept, they raised some concern over the plan for parking. 

Town staff and the architects designed a parking plan that meets the town’s codes. The plan is to reconfigure the back parking lot in addition to using an existing lot the town has to the east of the center and street parking. 

Town manager Ryan Hyland told the council that the approximate 30 spots in the east lot would likely not be for patrons but for employees. 

“You can’t build something that big without having adequate parking. … I would never vote for that,” Council member Tim Applegate said. 

Manka was also weary of this, noting that street parking for the recreation center currently gets taken up already from people parking for other spots in that area, such as The Pad. 

Recreation center manager Steven Herrman told council there will be idle zones and designated drop-off centers that could help alleviate parking issues since people will not be using parking spots for drop-offs. 

On the town’s website it lays out four different iterations, all fairly similar, that show how the expansion could turn out. More information can be found TinyURL.com/yc24srzf.