“Johnston is a great place to live,” Dan Mazzulla, the town’s longtime parks and recreation director, said Saturday morning inside Edward L. DiSimone Gymnasium at Johnston High School. “This new facility will really enhance our life styles.”
Mazzulla – who went from playing youth sports in Johnston to becoming a high school and collegiate basketball star – was speaking about what will be a state-of-the-art indoor recreational facility on the now gravel-covered lot located off Atwood Avenue just north of the high school.
Flanked by members of the Town Council, School Committee, and local legislative delegation, Mayor Joseph Polisena announced construction of the Johnston Indoor Recreation Center – which will reportedly be the first public recreation facility of its kind in Rhode Island – will begin soon.
“I have very, very aggressive plans to have this building up and running by September of this year,” Polisena said. “I have been, and always will be, committed to our youth, and will continue to provide them with the best of the best facilities possible.”
Polisena told people who attended Saturday morning’s announcement: “The new indoor facility will be a 22,000-square-foot metal building, and will consist of three courts that can be used simultaneously and will feature a rubberized floor with bleachers, a conference room, and offices.”
The facility, he said, will be able to host everything from youth basketball, volleyball, and tennis to aerobics classes, athletic training, and even business functions.
“The Indoor Center will now allow the Johnston Recreation Department to offer new classes such as karate, dance, birthday parties, and more,” Polisena said. “And we’re going to build this facility with the $2 million the town received in an out-of-court settlement from a lawsuit against the landfill and Broadrock Energy.”
Polisena explained that landfill officials asked him to help them get an agreement with Broadrock Energy for an independent contractor to extricate the gas coming out of the landfill.
“Well, I did just that, and was promised an extra bonus payment to the town,” Polisena said. “With that bonus, I am proud to announce that we will begin immediately the construction of the new Johnston Indoor Recreation Center.”
DiPrete Engineering, which has offices in Providence, Boston, and Newport, and designed the still-expanding Hartford Center (formerly Stuart’s Plaza) off Route 6, has agreed to design the new facility.
“The nice thing about that,” Polisena said, “is that [owner] Dennis DiPrete has volunteered to sit on the building committee and help us during the construction of this exciting new facility.”
DiPrete, who is a Cranston native, later noted: “Mayor Polisena had a unique vision for this recreation facility, and he always emphasized, ‘I don’t want to spend any of our money.’”
That’s the way Polisena recently built Johnston’s new state-of-the-art multi-use football stadium and track facility, which is said to be the best of its kind in New England.
Stephanie Manzi, vice president of the Town Council, praised Polisena for having the vision to build “this exciting new recreation center.”
“I promise you we will work as quickly as possible to get the new center up and running,” she said.
The project will be developed and overseen by a special recreation committee, which Polisena said will be chaired by Doug Jeffrey, his chief of staff.
The committee will also include DiPrete; Michael Sabitoni, president of the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council; Ben Nascenzi, town building inspector; Mazzulla; Manzi; Town Council President Robert Russo; and School Committee member Joe Rotella.
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Dubrunner
These facilities are a great addition to the town but only if people can access them. I was told by the Town that the new track will not be open the the public or town residents to use unlike many other high school tracks across the state. What's the point if only a certain section of the town (HS teams) can use them? Who will have access to this new facility? Built at no cost to the tax payer? ... at the end of the day if the dump money was not ear marked for these projects it would go towards lowering the high real estate and car taxes we all pay. Please open these facilities up to all tax paying town residents. Thanks
Sunday, February 21, 2016 Report this