Task force dreaming of new Dayton rec center

A top-of-the-line recreation center complete with swimming pool, gym and meeting rooms is tops on the wish list of many Daytonites.

A group of Dayton residents, activists and county officials are getting the ball rolling to make the wish come true for the fast-growing community.

Jannette Hoffert, executive director of Lyon County Parks and Recreation, made no bones about what she wanted.

"We need a full community center," she said. "We need a pool, a gym, large meeting rooms, a kitchen so we can have fundraising events. We need some office space, places where we can hold after-school programs and room to have karate and ballet classes."

The county has 15 acres near the library on Old Dayton Valley Road set aside for park development, and Hoffert and her fellow planners would like to see it as the new rec center site.

Of course, the old saying that if wishes were horses, beggars would ride comes to mind when planners start talking costs.

"We're looking at a couple different options," Hoffert said. "We plan to try for some grant funding and are considering creating a general improvement district.

She added that the group will try to obtain grants to build the facility and a GID to raise money for operations and maintenance.

The group began by handing out surveys at Dayton's Oodles of Noodles festival May 13 and plan to continue through the Dayton Valley Days event in September. Hoffert said volunteers are also attending school and community events to gauge the mood of as much of the public as they can before they take the issue to the commissioners.

"In the surveys that have come back so far, we've gotten a very positive response," she said.

Hoffert added that she didn't know how much such a rec center would cost, but admitted that it won't come cheap.

"I think maybe we're talking $10 million for the cost of construction, but we really don't know for sure."

Audra Haines, representing Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties on the task force, said the old center at 170 Pike St., Dayton, simply doesn't have enough room to serve Dayton's ever-growing population.

"There isn't enough room for all of the groups to meet, for children's programs," she said. "The community center has had to turn them away, because there's just not enough room."

A new Dayton community center is also at the top of the wish list for county officials.

Commissioner Bob Milz said the county has made the community center "priority number one," but warned against asking for too much, especially a pool.

"There will be pools at Traditions and at the golf course, so I don't see that as a priority," he said. "We need a community center where we could have decent kinds of meetings and have a place where kids can recreate; just an all-around community center."

For more information

To take part in the survey, or for more information, call Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties at (775) 246-7550.

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111 ext. 351.