Marshall White Center would double in size, per proposed rebuild plans
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- The Marshall White Center in Ogden, photographed Thursday, April 21, 2022.
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- A rendering of the proposed new Marshall White Center facility, publicly unveiled on Tuesday, April 19, 2022.
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- The conceptual layout of the ground floor of the proposed new Marshall White Center in Ogden. The plans were publicly unveiled on Tuesday, April 19, 2022.
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- The conceptual layout of the second level of the proposed new Marshall White Center in Ogden. The plans were publicly unveiled on Tuesday, April 19, 2022.
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- A conceptual layout of the proposed rebuild of the Marshall White Center in Ogden. The plans were publicly unveiled on Tuesday, April 19, 2022.
OGDEN — The consultant helping Ogden officials with efforts to revamp the city-owned Marshall White Center is proposing a two-level facility that’s double the size of the existing center.
It would cost $23 million to $25 million, with funding coming from a range of sources, including grants, donations and, potentially, bonding.
“This whole facility is set up to be very versatile, very multifunctional,” Brent Tippets, a principal with VCBO Architecture, told the Ogden City Council and other city officials this week. Salt Lake City-based VCBO has been working with the Marshall White Advisory Committee in coming up with plans to replace the aging community center.
Tippets gave one of the the first public glimpses of the proposed new facility at an Ogden City Council work session on Tuesday. Overhauling or replacing the center, located at 222 28th St., has been an ongoing topic of debate and a focus of attention among many who live in the low- to moderate-income neighborhood where it sits and their advocates.
The ground level of the facility, as put forward by VCBO, would contain a large gymnasium, a field house with synthetic turf that could accommodate soccer games, community space, and a swimming and recreation pool. The swimming and pool area would consist of three interconnected elements — a zero-entry activity area for younger kids with a play structure, a 3-foot-deep pool that could accommodate water aerobics and a 25-yard lap pool.
The multifunctional pool area underscores efforts to include elements in the facility that appeal to all ages and generations, said Whitney Ward, also with VCBO Architecture.
The smaller second level would contain an indoor walking and jogging track overlooking the gymnasium and field house, a boxing area, a fitness studio, and a weight and cardio room.
In all, it measures around 61,000 square feet, Tippets said, about double the size of the existing facility. The revamped center would be pushed further north than the existing facility, occupying some of the open space there, and a parking lot would be placed in front of the building.
The entry to the facility would contain a tribute to Marshall White, the center’s namesake and an Ogden police officer killed in the line of duty in 1963. Green space to the east would contain an outdoor soccer field, an outdoor basketball court and a playground.
The plans are “a concept,” not a final design, according to Tippets. But they contain the main elements that people said they wanted during numerous public meetings on the matter.
As is, the existing facility contains a gymnasium, community space and a lap pool no longer in use because of cracks, among other elements. It was dedicated in 1968, 54 years ago.
City Council members said little about the plans at Tuesday’s work session and took no formal action. They’ll ultimately have to sign off on the concept and whether to move forward with the plans.
Tippets, though, suspects the facility would be popular, potentially drumming up interest in developing another, similar center elsewhere in Ogden. “I think you’ll be surprised at how popular it becomes and I think it would be kind of an easy sell in the community to have another one down the road,” he said.
Councilperson Marcia White questioned whether the city has done enough to plan for development around the Marshall White Center, presuming the new facility plans move forward.
“I’m concerned we’re not thinking bigger around the area because I continue to say, we’re putting this really cool, shiny penny right in the middle of all that and we don’t have a plan for this,” she said.
Jay Lowder, Ogden’s public services director, said reps from Mayor Mike Caldwell’s administration are working on plans. Ogden Planning Manager Greg Montgomery said the area is contemplated in Make Ogden, a proposal to redevelop a broad swath of the city emanating out from the city center.
The biggest focus for now, Lowder said, “is to make this totally viable. If we can make this totally viable, then the next step is a lot easier.”
As for funding, Lowder envisions using donations, federal American Rescue Plan Act funds and money generated by the special 0.1% Weber County sales tax meant for recreation and arts projects, known as the RAMP tax. He also said revenue bonds could be tapped, using funds the city has been setting aside since last year — $1 million a year — to service them.
The Caldwell administration is expected to include plans for the revamped Marshall White Center in the proposed 2022-2023 city budget, to be formally presented to the City Council on May 3.
The new center would take two years to design and build, if the city moves forward. Since it would be built atop the existing Marshall White Center footprint, the existing facility would likely have to be closed, or closed in phases, to accommodate construction.