Nampa Rec Center

REC CENTER

The Nampa Recreation Center is a 140,000-square-foot recreation facility owned and operated by the city of Nampa. The facility is equipped with a six-pool aquatics center, three gymnasiums, four racquetball courts, a 1/5 mile indoor walking/running track, a weight room, exercise and cardio equipment, climbing wall, several group exercise studios, gymnastics area, classroom facilities, a snack area, youth activity center and play center. In addition, NRC has a preschool program and Kids In Action day camp. To support the senior community, NRC has a dedicated wing to house the Nampa Senior Center.

THE BEGINNING

The concept of a community recreation center to serve the residents of Nampa began in the early 1990s. At the time, the existing Nampa Senior Center was crowded and had accessibility issues. Nampa teens lacked a place to gather in the community. Most recreation opportunities for children were limited to the summer season, and Nampa residents in general needed a healthy, family-centered place to exercise.

The local community wanted a large facility that would meet their community recreational, educational and fitness needs while Nampa city leaders envisioned a facility that would inspire pride in the Nampa community and act as a focal point of the city. This concept, however, presented a lot of challenges for a city of Nampa’s size.

Mercy Medical Center (now Saint Alphonsus Medical Center) donated a 13-acre building site for the facility. After the land was secured, the city began the process of funding the project. Several local businesses made large donations to begin construction on the facility. By the time the building was completed, over 13,000 people had purchased memberships. With the use of donated property, cable television franchise revenue and revenue from Nampa’s municipal golf course, the city was able to build and continues to maintain the Nampa Recreation Center without raising property taxes.

NRC’s financial plan included issuing Certificates of

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Participation. Investors purchased these Certificates of Participation which acted as a $6.5 million loan toward the building cost, equipment, maintenance and operation of the facility. The balance of this debt was paid in full in November 2003. Today, membership sales and program fees support 100 percent of NRC’s operation costs.

In addition to the Certificates of Participation, donated land, membership fees, program fees and cash donations, a franchise fee of 2 percent was added to TCI Cable Television. The revenues from those franchise fees were pledged to NRC until 2003.

Since that time city leaders from communities in Idaho, Kansas, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, California, Washington, Oregon and Nevada have traveled to the Nampa area to tour the Nampa Recreation Center Facility.

THE FUTURE

The Nampa Rec Center provides opportunities for all ages to engage in healthy activities. By providing classes and programs that encourage a healthy lifestyle, the Rec Center strives to be responsive to our community’s needs and focuses on helping create a healthy community. The NRC works to make the facility accessible to everyone in the community, so the NRC has established a scholarship program for individuals, families and seniors to apply and gain access to the facility for reduced or free memberships.

NRC will continue to operate as a focal point for a healthy Nampa community in years to come. The NRC offers monthly injury screens and Saint Alphonsus Rehabilitation Services physical therapy. In addition, NRC works to create events where the community can come together, such as the annual Daddy Daughter Date night.

As stated in NRC’s mission, the center is committed to playing an active role in creating a healthy community and will continue to be responsive to the needs of Nampa residents. For information on the programs and classes offered through the Nampa Recreation Center, visit www.nampaparksandrecreation. org/RecCenter. EXPLORE NAMPA