Longmont City Council votes to purchase former YMCA

Late Tuesday night, Longmont City Council voted to purchase the former YMCA, paving the way for a new recreation center to reopen in the Colorado city.

Longmont will pay $4.5 million for the former YMCA and estimates another $8 million in necessary repairs. This follows months of public debate over its future.

Five months after the Northern Colorado YMCA announced it would close its Longmont branch, the building is one step closer to welcoming the community back.

The decision follows months of negotiations and hundreds of public comments from residents who urged the city to save what many described as a cornerstone of the community.

For Maryam Motahari, the vote was deeply personal.

"I have lots of memories. I have fun memories and I have sad memories," Motahari said of the Lashley Street building.

Motahari spent 19 years at the Longmont YMCA as both a member and fitness instructor.

"I raised my family here. I would come and go like five times a week, teaching classes... and I planned on teaching here until I was like 75 years old," she said.

When the YMCA announced in February that it would close the Longmont branch at the end of the month, Motahari lost more than her workplace.

"A lot of tears, a lot of crying, and I still haven't found a home," she said.

As she searches for that new home, Motahari has continued leading many of her former YMCA regulars through free weekly fitness classes at a local park.

"If anyone were to open these doors, if anyone is qualified to do it, is the city of Longmont," she said.

Although the city has approved purchasing the building, officials say reopening it will take time.

The city plans to spend their current $8.4 million in existing recreation funds to pay for and repair the building. Officials estimate the aging facility will also require approximately $8 million in repairs before it can fully reopen. The city hopes to raise remaining dollars for repairs through memberships.

The building remains open for YMCA childcare and summer camp programming, but city leaders say broader recreation services could return after renovations are completed.

"I knew that people didn't want to see this asset go, but I didn't realize how passionate people were about maintaining that," Longmont Mayor Susie Hidalgo-Fahring said.

Hidalgo-Fahring said preserving the YMCA is about more than maintaining a building. Adding that this option is millions of dollars less expensive than constructing a new facility. 

"The Y falls in a part of town where it's often unrepresented, so we need. I think that the stars aligned well for us to engage and be purposeful with acquiring this property and keeping the doors open," she said.

However at Tuesdays meeting, a few residents raised financial concerns. Some questioned whether Longmont should take on another aging recreation facility when another city-owned center is located nearby.

"Common sense says the city is not going to support two large aging pools that are less than a mile apart," Longmont resident Marilyn Maher said.

For Mothari, however, the cost is outweighed by what the YMCA has meant to thousands of people over the years.

"People are worth the money. The building needs repairs, but our community needs this. Our community needs a place to come together, and that's priceless," she said.

City officials hope to start repairs in six months and reopen the recreation complex in two years.