A group of Schenectady residents wants more transparency from county legislators over the proposed construction of an aquatic center in partnership with Schenectady County Community College.
In 2024, the Schenectady County Legislature gave the county manager its approval to enter into an agreement with the college to construct an aquatic center on Erie Boulevard.
At the time, the estimated cost to build an 80,000-square-foot building was nearly $42 million. But new estimates show the aquatic center would be nearly 147,000 square feet and cost more than $125 million. It would feature an Olympic-size pool, diving well, therapy pool and seating for 1,200 spectators, among other amenities.
The updated estimates have led a group of Schenectady residents to call for more transparency.
Najee Walker, co-founder of Schenectady Residents for Responsible Development, wants to know why the size and cost of the project have grown.
“The legislators have spoken a lot about how good it is, how great it’s going to be. But they haven’t told us anything about why its gone from 80,000 to 140,000 square feet, why its gone from $41 million to now $125 million,” Walker said.
Walker has other concerns, including how the county is planning to pay for the project and whether it has to abide by the city of Schenectady’s zoning laws.
Gary Hughes, chairman of the County Legislature, says the county isn’t technically required by law to follow the city’s zoning regulations.
But he said city officials are being kept in the loop.
“But it does not follow the same approval process that another project in the city would follow. And I think that is probably a little confusing for folks, but that’s just the way the law works,” Hughes said.
Hughes says the aquatic center could bring a number of positive public safety and economic benefits to residents.
Additionally, Hughes said the center could bolster the college's educational offerings.
“I think all of the educational opportunities that it opens up for the community college is a significant benefit, and I don’t think it has gotten the degree of attention that it really needs. I mean, this is not something that is being built as an amenity for the community college, it is being built as an actual instructional facility,” Hughes said.
Hughes says county legislators have been responding to Schenectady Residents for Responsible Development.
However, Walker contends there have been no public hearings or requests for feedback surrounding the aquatic center.
“We’re not against it outright. We would like people to have a place where they can have a sense of community,” Walker said.
Hughes says a public input session at this point in the process would be “premature.”
As for the cost increases, Hughes says multiple factors, including construction costs climbing after the COVID-19 pandemic, are to blame.
Hughes said site preparation is also a factor.
“This is not a green field development out somewhere that is on one piece of land. There were costs associated with acquiring property, there is going to be some need to change some infrastructure, some significant cost related to something called the cow horn creek, which literally runs under all of downtown Schenectady, but as long as you’re doing this project you may as well reroute that enough to improve just overall conditions. So, some of the cost is in there,” Hughes said.
A Schenectady County aquatics center has been in discussion for many years, and the proposed project has gone through many iterations, with multiple locations considered.
Hughes says the latest proposed facility is “somewhat larger than it was” and much of that had to do figuring out where to place “certain pieces of equipment,” like pumps and filters, for multiple pools.
“At one point the intent was to locate those in the basement and that resulted in an expansion of the basement. Now, we’re back to looking at maybe one of the cost savings we can achieve is locating that equipment elsewhere in the building and not having as comprehensive a basement. So, probably the facility is twice as big overall as it was when it was first conceived maybe 10 years ago,” Hughes said.
