Special Series: "When Pigs Fly" This is a collection of articles on the facts, problems and issues other communities are having with their current or planned Conference/Convention Centers. Three civic centers give Marion backers examples of what works Can task force members convince the community to pay for a civic center?

Task force working to sell residents on civic center

A community's plans

BY SUSAN LATHAM CARR - 02-27-1999

They say it's time. They say it's needed. And they also say it can be done. Now the 10-member Civic Center Task Force has to convince the Marion County community it should build a $22 million business, entertainment and sports complex.

"I think the most important thing is that this is a community project that needs to be from the community for the future of this community," said Ocala City Councilman Mike Amsden, who is leading the charge for a multi-use civic center.

The idea is not a new one.

"There's just a lot of hot talk," Amsden said about the discussions that have swirled around for years in various circles. "It's planting the seeds."

Amsden pulled together a group of citizens from the government, business and social service sectors to force the idea into the public arena to see if a civic center really is feasible for Ocala and Marion County. To the original 10 participants, he added four non-voting members, who bring experience in architecture, engineering, local business and economic development to the table. Their job is to make sure foundations can be added to any castles in the sky.

Before the task force lifts one shovel of dirt, though, it must find an appropriate site and willing donors and it must sway tight-fisted taxpayers and outspoken opponents.

Since the first meeting in July, the group examined 18 existing public and private facilities in Marion County, and evaluated unmet needs for indoor space. They then looked at large meeting and recreational facilities in eight communities similar to Ocala, such as Kissimmee and Hattiesburg, Miss.

A plan emerged that is designed to avoid the mistakes made by other communities while meeting current and future local space needs. The plan calls for building three facilities and includes possible locations, estimated costs, and ways to pay for the project.

What the task force is proposing is a 100,000-square-foot conference center/exhibit hall costing $6 million, a 1,500- to 2,200-seat theater with a $9 million price tag, and a 5,000-seat arena costing $7 million.

The conference center, considered the task force's top priority, would have breakout rooms for meetings and convention and executive conference facilities. There would be no full kitchen, but there would be space to accommodate catering. Possible uses include educational seminars, management retreats, civic club meetings and meal and social functions. The exhibition hall portion would offer space for industry shows, such as boat, automobile and recreational vehicle shows. Other uses might include job fairs, banquets, sporting exhibitions, ballroom dancing, youth dances and proms, and craft and gun shows.

The theater, considered to be the second most important structure, could be used for plays, concerts, symphonies, lectures and political debates.

Although arenas attract the sporting events enjoyed by many, their large size makes them underutilized, and expensive to air condition. Because one is nearly always a money loser, the task force ranked an arena third in importance to a local civic center.

The task force, nevertheless, agreed an arena is an integral part of a multi-use facility. It could be used for basketball, hockey, ice shows and rodeos, gymnastic events, graduations, and wrestling.

"I think the need is there," said task force member Michael Hamer, owner of Balcony Gymnastics and Fitness. "If people have a doubt about it, go to the Forest High School graduation ceremony."

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Three locations have been suggested. The area capturing most of the task force's support is land along Interstate 75, where, they feel, visibility is the highest.

County Commissioner Randy Harris and Ocala Mayor E.L. Foster, both task force members, prefer other sites. Harris likes access to I-75, but from the west U.S. 27 corridor. Foster is pushing for east State Road 40, down the road from the Holiday Inn he owns.

"I would rather have a community center within the community," Foster said. He said his inn along SR 40 has nothing to do with his selection. He said SR 40 has four lanes and has demonstrated it can handle traffic for Silver Springs' regular country and western concerts, which attract thousands of people.

Foster said that by having a civic center in town, visitors will pass area restaurants, gas stations and shops they see along the way rather than dashing directly to or from the interstate.

Harris has reservations about bringing the traffic through town.

"If you put a convention center in a location so you can manage the traffic in and out of that facility, when these people are not involved in a function they are going to find their way around to these other businesses. I think we need to position one somewhere within easy access of I-75." He believes a complex within a mile or two of the interstate is the best choice.

"I still think I-75 is a window to this community," said Thad Boyd, task force member and owner of Ocala Properties, who wants the facility along that highway. "There's a heavy traffic count on I-75. That's why you see a lot of big industries going in around the site. It's a way of letting everyone know, who is passing through, that this is a growing community and it's doing good things."

The Lakeland Convention and Civic Center, pictured above, loses $1 million a year. A task force is looking into the community to see if a civic center is feasible for Marion.

THE HARD SELL

The city of Ocala and Marion County have each anted up $15,000 so the task force may develop promotional material and preliminary sketches to sell the community on the idea.

"You can go to the movies and eat out," said task force member Augie Greiner, who recently sold Greiner's Men's Wear shop on East Silver Springs Boulevard. "That's our entertainment. There's nothing else. The little (Ocala Civic) theater is one of the best things we can go to. We have so many retired people who want to go to things." Greiner would like to see a theater with Broadway plays in Ocala so he doesn't have to drive to other cities for the shows he enjoys.

Dave Pritchard, who, when he isn't serving the task force, runs the city's recreation and parks department, agrees with Greiner.

"What makes a big city into a vibrant community are civic centers - the arts, the ability to congregate in large numbers to get the feeling of community, whether it be a basketball game or rodeo," Pritchard said.

Because he did much of the research into what other civic centers yield, he knows that they generally lose money. But he believes that dynamic is changing somewhat as communities learn from one another what works and what doesn't.

Still, one cannot ignore the fact civic centers can be a cash drain. For instance, the Lakeland Convention and Civic Center loses $1 million a year.

Regardless, task force member Luzonia Waters, who deals with children in her job with Childhood Development Services, sees a need to develop cultural and economic opportunities to bring Ocala's children back home after they finish college. Like Greiner, who's gone to Orlando and Tampa to see some of the plays he wants for Ocala, she's had to leave town to attend religious conventions in places like Lakeland and Toronto because meeting halls in Ocala simply cannot accommodate the crowds.

"I feel that Ocala, being in a central location and, as rapidly as we are growing, we, too, can grow culturally," Waters said.

County Commission Chairman Parnell Townley, who is not on the task force, supports the project with the other four commissioners, as long as private funding is part of the equation.

The task force would like to raise half the construction cost from private donors and, if they can accomplish that, they said they feel the community will be willing to fund the other half.

"Any municipalities or counties that have 250,000 people that don't have a civic center are looking for one," said Townley, who came to Marion County in 1960 when the population was 65,000. "We are getting there. We are quickly becoming urbanized, as sad as it might be."

The numbers seem to bear out Townley's observations, regardless of whether one finds them as lamentable as he does.

Janet Rose, an accountant and information specialist with the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, said Marion County is projected to grow from a 1998 estimated population of 242,357 to 366,600 in 2020.

Economics also play a role in the task force's contention that the time for developing a civic center is now.

Marion County is growing so quickly that the 80-100 acres of land necessary for the complex needs to be set aside soon, before all the large tracts are developed.

"If we wait another two to three years, instead of $22 million it may be $33 million," said task force member Phillip Van Hooser, owner of Van Hooser Associates Inc. "It's not going to get any cheaper. I say now is the time to act. If not now, why? If not now, then when? I want things to happen."

FRIENDS AND FOES

There are those on the task force, like Ruben Lamb, a longtime resident of Marion County who started the annual Shriners' Rodeo in 1983, who believe Marion County's rich agricultural traditions can flourish with a civic center.

"Should this become a reality, I would hope to see that a facility of this nature could accommodate a rodeo-type of event," Lamb said, not for his own personal gain but for the enjoyment it brings to thousands of enthusiasts, including Marion County's youth. Lamb pointed out the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's National Finals are held in Las Vegas every year in the same facility the University of Nevada-Las Vegas plays basketball. It annually draws sell-out crowds of 17,000 each night for an entire week. And a well-attended, bull-riding contest was held in the Sun Dome in St. Petersburg in January. With a civic center, Ocala might draw the crowds that now go elsewhere, he said.

Lamb also envisions an arena that could draw ice shows. He's traveled to other Florida cities to see those, too.

Lamb was appointed to the task force by City Councilman Mike Finn, who adamantly opposes a civic center at this time.

"We have other priorities that are more important - paving streets and providing sewer and water to the rest of the people in the city of Ocala," Finn said. Among those needs are things like new fire stations in the city and disposing of solid waste.

Finn said the city must move two fire stations to provide better fire protection and to keep fire insurance rates reasonably priced. Another growing concern is the cost of countywide trash disposal. He said the city does not even know the final cost of building the new police headquarters, currently under construction, will be or whether the Airport Rescue Firefighting Facility at the Ocala's regional airport will ever make money or will continue to be subsidized by the city's treasury.

"I could give you 100 arguments against the civic center," Finn said. "Do you think the needs - the highways and infrastructure - are going to get smaller? Hell no. It's going to keep growing and growing."

But economic development needs and entertainment needs also will grow, and a civic center will not be built overnight, members of the task force argue.

"There's a realization that it's a five-to-six-year project," Pritchard said. "Even if everything goes great, you are not opening the doors until 2003." The Task Force's most optimistic projection is to open the doors as early as July 2001.

Ocala Civic Theater Executive Director Mary Britt and Silver Springs Chief Executive Officer Bill Sims, neither of whom sit on the task force, like the idea of a civic center.

"I think there's a lot of things that it's needed for," said Britt, whose 400-seat theater cost $1.8 million to build in 1988 plus $200,000 for recent improvements. She has some concern about competition for entertainment dollars, not only locally but from neighboring cities.

Still, Britt supports the idea of a civic center for Marion County. She cautions that a theater must have enough seats to pay the cost of royalties for even cut-down versions of Broadway shows. She also said a multi-use theater must be designed correctly because there are different needs for plays, concerts and dance.

"Once you have built it, you can't fix it," Britt said.

Like Britt, Sims supports the idea of a civic center. He does not see the complex as competition for Silver Springs' shows because his programs are outdoors. He said neither Daytona's nor Gainesville's facilities hurt his business.

"It brings business into the community," Sims says. "Ocala is the perfect size for a small convention center. It's a beautiful part of the state. We have things that other areas of the state don't offer, the beauty of Marion County with all the horse farms."

What is still unknown is if the community will spend public dollars to help build and operate the center.

"Whether you are 5 or 85, this type of facility is going to provide you with opportunities, whether it's entertainment, or whether it's business," Amsden said. "The majority of people that are moving into this community have lived around facilities like this for most of their lives. They are used to this type of exposure. They see the value in it."

Amsden is cautiously optimistic.

"I am trying to put the issue to the community and see where it goes from there," Amsden said. "If not, we have put good foundations for the future because this is going to be reality one day. That's all I'm doing - looking to the future and planting the seed."

© Copyright 1999 Star-Banner

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