Priceville plans public hearing to discuss future of sportsplex

By Lauren Estes-Velez

For the Enquirer

PRICEVILLE—The Town of Priceville will host a public hearing Oct. 22 to share and hear input on the potential future plans of the Sportplex.

Priceville Mayor Melvin Duran said the council would like as many residents to attend as possible to vocalize their opinions and concerns in moving forward with this project.

“We have been talking about this project since 2015, but now we’re in a place where we feel we do not have adequate funds to follow through with the initial plans like we wanted,” Duran said.

Duran said the initial plans called for a 66,000 square-foot building that included four basketball courts, which could be converted into eight volleyball courts; a fitness center; and areas to be rented out by the public.

“We also were going to rent out a space of it for Encore Rehabilitation to use, but right now, all plans are on hold until we decide what to do moving forward,” Duran said.

The initial estimated cost for the building was about $6 million. Duran said the council has accumulated $8,275,000 to use toward the project, but recently, the council learned a project of this size and magnitude could cost up to $12 million, according to other builders of similar projects.

“We have not sent the project to be bidded out, so we do not know an exact cost, but right now we just want to talk to the public and see what they would like to see done with it,” Duran said. “We can build a really great building for the money we have, but it just won’t be what we originally hoped for. Nothing has been set either way, and we are going discuss it further Monday at the public hearing. We hope the town will come and support the meeting and discuss it with us.”

The meeting will be held at the Priceville Town Hall at 6 p.m.