What's Next In Push For New Benjamin Barnes Branch YMCA Site?

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The Tuscaloosa City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to table a vote on the site for a new Benjamin Barnes Branch YMCA, as the frontrunner for the proposed location has stirred intense debate in recent days and weeks.

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Earlier on Tuesday, five potential sites were presented to city officials by John Chambless of Birmingham-based Chambless King Architects for the new YMCA branch in west Tuscaloosa during a council committee meeting.

The project's first phase solely focuses on the site selection — a process that began last September.

Here's a look at the proposed sites:

• Pecan Grove
• Stillman Heights Elementary
• Dragons Lane
• The existing site
• The McDonald Hughes Community Center.

It would be the proposed buildout at the McDonald Hughes Community Center that the Council seemed to settle on earlier in the day after receiving recommendations from the architecture consulting firm tasked with determining alternative sites.

City leaders in support of McDonald Hughes as the new site argued this option would provide the largest footprint — 45,000 square feet — in addition to the city being able to make the most of its $10 million budget by building the new location on the site of a community center that already offers a wide-range of amenities.

Funding for the project was previously allocated through Elevate Tuscaloosa, with the primary roadblock at present being the location more than the price tag.

From an architecture standpoint, Chambless explained that the biggest concerns for the other sites centered on property acquisition costs, site development and the size of each proposed location.

For instance, to build at Pecan Grove would have taken up a third of the budget just for land acquisition and site development, he said. At Stillman Heights Elementary, issues with topography and the availability of land present high costs for site development, all for a 30,000-square-foot facility that would be one of the smaller footprint plans proposed by consultants.

Dragons Lane — another proposed 30,ooo-square-foot site — and the existing Benjamin Barnes Branch YMCA, pose similar issues in terms of the size and challenges in site development. As consultants opined, it would be a sizable investment for a smaller site, which led them to recommend the McDonald Hughes Center.

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox then expressed feedback he has received from constituents who claim that the McDonald Hughes Center is underutilized, which provides the city with an opportunity to enhance the offerings at one large campus and spur revitalization in the area.

Maddox also mentioned the fact that McDonald Hughes has mostly been used for rentals, especially after programming and visitor numbers took a major hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Leveraging that with Benjamin Barnes on the corner, you begin to see the possibilities," he said.

Chambless also presented bullet-point lists of pros and cons, which showed McDonald Hughes as the clear favorite for the new site:

However, criticism of the McDonald Hughes location could be seen in worries over the duplication of services, lack of community input, the loss of historical context, and the possibility that the current Benjamin Barnes Branch YMCA would no longer be accessible to those in Tuscaloosa's West End.

"I don’t know what services could be duplicated, because there is not much that's being offered to our youth at that location," District 2 Councilwoman Raevan Howard said in response to the concerns. "One of my visions was to expand this facility to do what is already being done here [at McDonald Hughes] — make it more of a campus feel."

Indeed, the architects and consultants working with the site selection committee suggested developing a "campus of activities" that then would draw in people of all ages from across the metro area.

Chambless also said the existing site is simply not the right size for a worthwhile investment of taxpayer money, especially when considering demolition costs, nominal parking and visitors having to cross the street to attend any aquatic programming at the new location. He also suggested that the city and YMCA may decide to repurpose the current building.

"We’re kind of at the end of Phase One of a two-phase phase project," he said. "Phase Two will take the approved recommended site and we're going to do a deeper analysis of that, look at existing facilities, budgets and what we think we could get into this program for approval."

Former Tuscaloosa City Councilor and retired Judge John England has been a central figure over the years in the push for a new Benjamin Barnes Branch YMCA facility and addressed the worries over the potential loss of historical significance with the building.

When discussions turned to the pictures of illustrious community leaders hanging in the current location, which were mentioned as underscoring the need for continuity at any new location, England pointed out that efforts have been ongoing for years to try to build a new Benjamin Barnes Branch YMCA at the current site. However, he said the important argument has always been accessibility to those in the West End.

"I guarantee every picture will be in this site," the legendary judge said of the new proposed location. "It might not be where it was, but the same historical significant will be there."

The measure was ultimately tabled during Tuesday night's full council meeting and will be taken up for a vote once again on Tuesday, March 29.

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