By Liz Oakes
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Tom Pfeffer with the Wyoming maintenance department inspects the deteriorated mounting for the diving board at the Wyoming Municipool. Wyoming is proposing a new recreation center in addition to other improvements. Photos by GLENN HARTONG/The Enquirer

Workers excavate dirt at the new Wyoming Skate Park being built at Oak Park.

Residents this week can put their two cents in on a long-awaited, $20.8 million proposal for a recreation complex boasting two gyms, a running track, indoor pool, water park and an athletic field.

The price tag: a 6-mill levy that would cost the owner of a $250,000 home - the median value in Wyoming - an extra $525 a year in property taxes. The recreation levy would bring in about $1.5 million a year.

This Hamilton County city plans public hearings at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the civic center, 1 Worthington Ave., and 3 p.m. April 17 at the recreation center, 9940 Springfield Pike. Council will decide whether to put the levy on the November ballot after the hearings.

The proposal consolidates the recreation and civic centers into an 84,000-square-foot building that would also include a cafe and a conference room seating 330 people. The new recreation complex would be built on the current location of the civic center.

The city is considering leasing its recreation center, which isn't even in Wyoming. It sits on 10 acres in Woodlawn, which the city bought for $585,000 about five years ago.

In surveys over the past five years, residents have pushed for recreation improvements, city officials say.

Andrew Abel, whose daughters belong to a swim club at Powel Crosley Jr. YMCA in Springfield Township, said Wyoming sorely needs the upgrades to attract new residents.

MEMBERSHIPS

A sampling of annual family membership rates at area recreation centers. Costs are for residents, unless otherwise noted.  Powel Crosley Jr. YMCA, Springfield Township: $1,072 (residents and nonresidents)  Wyoming Community Center: $537.50 (proposed; includes water park fee)  Mason Community Center: $450  Blue Ash Recreation Center: $70 (includes fitness center)

"Most of our facilities, frankly, are subpar, if you're trying to compete with Mason or Kings or West Chester. They're all going to have good schools, too," he said.

Concrete is crumbling at the municipal pool, which is more than 30 years old and leaks, said City Manager Bob Harrison. An engineering study found the pool has just a few years left.

An indoor swimming pool would allow Wyoming's high school and middle school teams to practice in the city, Harrison said; they currently pay more than $5,000 a season to swim in Springfield Township.

Neither of the city's two current gyms is regulation size, and one is too small for fourth-graders to play in.

"We can't schedule games in the Oak Street gym," Harrison said. "The facilities we've got are really inadequate."

Basketball and volleyball teams have been turned away, and residents complain about lines to use weight room machines, council members say.

And seventh-graders are forced to practice basketball as late as 9 p.m. on school nights because earlier gym times are taken, city officials said.

But other residents worry about paying higher taxes for something they may not use.

Robert Broge, who's retired, said he and his wife live on a fixed income and already belong to a country club. "There are people in Wyoming who are not particularly wealthy," Broge said. "I think the increase in taxes from the proposed levy would be a hardship on them. ... I don't think they would join the (community center) under any circumstances. They would be paying for nothing."

Wyoming projects about $1.3 million in annual revenue from the recreation program, based on estimates that a third of the city's 8,261 residents and about 1,500 nonresidents would buy memberships. Residents would pay up to $538 for an annual pass to the outdoor pool and community center; nonresidents, up to $1,000.

Wyoming also proposes buying land owned by the school district for $1.87 million to renovate the outdoor track, install lighting and synthetic turf, and build new bleachers at the football field.

Next month, the city will open a $300,000 skate park, built with help from a $111,000 state grant.

If it gets another grant, Wyoming is also considering spending about $180,000 to build a bike/hike path, and plans to mark a sidewalk/street trail.

E-mail loakes@enquirer.com