Consultants recommend Southside recreation center; council hears two delivery options and $58M concept budget

Elizabeth Harrell, Mesquite’s parks and recreation director, opened a consultant presentation on a recreation‑center feasibility study, saying the work began from the city’s 2022 parks, recreation and open‑space master plan and that consultants Barker Rinker Seacat would present a systemwide needs assessment and cost considerations.

Consultant Craig, speaking for Barker Rinker Seacat, summarized a months‑long public process — workshops, surveys and an executive steering committee — and framed the study around three linked factors: program (facility spaces), budget and schedule. He said Mesquite currently has about 102,000 square feet of indoor recreation space and that planners used a level‑of‑service target of roughly 1–2 square feet per person to model future needs as the city’s population grows.

"We started with hopes and dreams and boiled them down to values: improve quality of life, build stronger sense of community, and make facilities more equitable," Craig said. He presented two bookend delivery options: “Recreation Renaissance,” which adds an 80,000‑square‑foot Southside center and modest expansions of Florence and Evans, and “Full Spectrum,” which would create a larger regional center in a central location and expand other sites to bigger footprints.

Craig said both models were tested for operations and staffing and that the team targeted a 50% cost‑recovery goal for the system. "Phase 1 would be Southside Recreation Center. Dollars 58,000,000 is what we believe that to be, in our conceptual budget," he said, noting that construction would follow design beginning as early as 2026 with an opening timeline into 2029 under the study’s schedule.

Council members pressed on several points: cost drivers, the role of aquatics, phasing and what would happen to existing facilities if programs were consolidated. Craig and operations consultant Scott Cairns (Ballard King) told council that aquatics are a major budget component, that aquatics could be phased in later if desired, and that existing centers might be repurposed for reservations, divested to Mesquite ISD or retained with lower operational profiles.

Council members also debated equity and voter support. Several members said locating a major bond‑funded project only in the South could complicate voter approval and recommended packaging elements that deliver benefits across the city. Staff said a public education and citizen advocacy committee would likely be necessary for any successful bond campaign and that staff would return with more detailed planning materials.

The presentation was information only; council did not vote on a project at this meeting. Staff and consultants recommended the city consider voter approval to fund a Southside project as the first phase and then use the system plan to guide later decisions.

What’s next: staff will collect council feedback, refine the study into a formal recommendation and return with additional details and potential funding strategies.