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Amphitheater part of Aquatic Center approved

27 January 2012

Amphitheater part of Aquatic Center approved
Huber Heights Courier
By GREG SMART
Editor

01/27/12 - It may be the dead of winter now, but construction of Phase I of the Aquatic Park portion of the recreation center facility behind the Huber Heights YMCA is well under construction and is expected to be completed by Memorial Day, 2012. Monday night, the Huber Heights City Council approved Phase II of the recreation center facility-the amphitheater portion of the project.

The Administration Committee previously approved architects, LWC, Inc., to proceed with the completion of the drawings for the proposed new amphitheater and to finalize the final budget estimates. The total cost of the project is $1.4 million and the notes/bonds will be repaid from annual Tax Increment Financing (TIF) revenues, grants and donations. Items added to the projects that were not included in the original project include the parking lot, restrooms, the added seating, some sidewalks, an access drive, storage space on the back side of the amphitheater and a monument sign, as well as some related fees.

The legislation also authorizes the city manager and/or project manager to identify and pre-qualify suitable contractors to perform the Phase II work.

According to Mark Campbell, chairman of the Administrative Committee, the Eichelberger Foundation had committed to a donation of $150,000 to the amphitheater project, based on a city match with TIF funds. Neil Zimmers, a lobbyist for the city of Huber Heights, was instrumental in securing the funds from the Eichelberger Foundation, on whose board he serves. Zimmers has been working with the state of Ohio to possibly secure additional funding for the amphitheater.

Mayor Ron Fisher told the Courier that neither the Aquatic Park or the amphitheater is requiring the City Council "to go and acquire any new taxes from the taxpayers."

"We can spend the money on economic development or we can spend it on recreation and we as a Council have decided that a certain share of that money we're going to spend on recreation and give back to the taxpayers," said Fisher regarding the use of TIF funds. "It's another source of revenue that goes to the city...for economic development instead of going to sales tax dollars for the county. It enables us to... do other things for the city."


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