YMCA begins survey process for new facility

By Bruce Wallace

The Southern Boone YMCA is in its planning stages for a new facility and wants to know what you think. Director Kip Batye said the YMCA had a new survey online and available, at the Y facility at the corner of Main Street and Broadway, to ask Ashland residents what they wanted in a new facility.

“We put the survey out there on Friday and we have had a few hundred responses already,” Batye said. “We are looking for 500-plus responses.”

Batye emphasized that he was looking for responses from YMCA members and non-members. “The Y is here for the community,” Batye said. “We want to build a new Y based on community input.”

The quick survey asks respondents about YMCA programming – which includes everything from youth and adult sports to yoga classes and exercise classes for senior citizens and more – to whether or not the community would like to see a new pool built.

“The biggest takeaway we think we will get is what the community would like to see as far as a swimming pool,” Batye said, “indoor, outdoor – or if we need to build one.”

YMCA board member Kim Ponder helped develop the survey and said the process is a chance for the Y to “re-engage the community.” “This gives us an opportunity to ask the community, now that we have a product, what else they would like to have,” Ponder said.