Augusta Rowing Club presented some options for a new headquarters to city leaders Tuesday, May 9 but the club is no closer to finding a new home.
Club President Megan Buckalew said in 48 days, club leadership hadn’t met with Augusta Parks and Recreation Director Maurice McDowell.
Long in disrepair, the city-owned “Boathouse” has served for decades as a $1-a-year storage space for the club’s sculls as well as a workshop, club meeting space and fitness facility.
Frozen pipes flooded the facility in December, leading city leaders to deem it uninhabitable and mold continues to grow, Interim Central Services Director Ron Lampkin said.
Buckalew said the club joined forces with Augusta Sports Council to look for options to maintain a “$1 million-plus” economic impact of the Head of the South Regatta, held in November.
“Every day there isn’t a decision is the day the club is closer to losing our regatta and visiting training crews,” Buckalew said. “A million plus may not be a lot to you, but I’m sure it is to the small businesses and hotels and restaurants in your district.”
Commissioner Alvin Mason asked if the club did any fundraising.
The regatta is the third-largest single-day regatta in the country and serves as “our major fundraising event,” she said.
The group also hosts rowing events such as the U.S. Rowing Southeastern Regional Championship at 285-acre Langley Pond in Aiken County. Rowing club coach Brad Holdren served as park supervisor there for Aiken County Parks, Recreation and Tourism.
The club needs a minimum of 12,150 square feet of space, the same as it had at the boathouse, Holdren said Tuesday.
Due to the expense of a new building, the club and sports council revisited the option of cleaning up the Boathouse, but the commission voted March 21 to tear it down. Lampkin said Tuesday the estimate to demolish the Boathouse was $200,000 to $400,000.
McDowell said the department had two or three meetings with the club and sports council.
”My suggestion is for this body to review the options they presented for you and make a decision,” he said.
All but one of the options is a vacant tract on which the city would be expected to build.
Recreation has paid for portable toilets – up to $4,000 a month – to assist the club, McDowell said.
“I’ll provide you with the receipts for those if you need them,” he said.
Commissioners said they expected McDowell and the club to return with temporary housing options, such as shipping containers, rather than requests for a new building.
“This body agreed to demo the boathouse, and we all agreed to support the rowing club,” Commissioner Sean Frantom said. “We thought we would hear about (containers) and how we could possibly buy them… We need to help you, but there’s only so many options that we have.”
“I think your version of needs is just a place to store the boats, whereas our version of needs is a place to keep the club alive. We can’t just pack the boats away in a box and expect the club to exist for two months, three months, three years while things get worked out. The club will die,” Holdren said.
Commissioner Bobby Williams motioned to return to the matter during the next committee cycle and the Public Services Committee agreed to do so.
“That ought to give the administrator, Director McDowell, Mr. Lampkin some time to talk with folks. Maybe we can get something to work with,” he said.
The meeting was expected to include Williams himself and the Savannah Riverkeeper, which leases nearby riverfront property from the city.
The Options
- A city-owned tract with warehouse at 330 Prep Phillips Dr.
- Vacant city-owned land at 298 Prep Phillips Dr.
- City property east of the Boathouse
- Private property at Riverfront Drive and East Boundary
- Riverfront city property immediately west of Highway 78
