Midway gets first-stage approval for $2 million to expand the recreation center

United States Representative Al Lawson (FL-05), who represents Gadsden County, recently announced that he secured inclusion of $2 million for the expansion of the Eugene Lamb, Jr. Recreation Center in Midway.

On July 29, the Congressional House cleared a package of seven spending bills, including the Fiscal Year 2022 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development funding bill that includes $7 million for four Community Funding Projects in North Florida - including the recreation center in Midway.

The minibus package, H.R. 4502, passed on a vote of 219-208, and includes bills that outline funding levels for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Agriculture, Interior, Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation, along with other Federal departments and offices.

However, it awaits approval by the United States Senate and President Joe Biden.

The expansion of the recreation center is one of four Community Funding Projects in the 2022 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee that Lawson rallied to obtain funding for.

The other three projects include $1 million for the Concord School Restoration in Leon County, $2 million for a Community and Veterans Empowerment Center in Duval County, and $2 million for the White Harvest Farms and Market Project also in Duval County.

“I am proud to have secured the inclusion of these four important projects in the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Subcommittee appropriations bill that are critical to North Florida,” Representative Lawson said. “Each of these projects will have a significant, positive impact on our community and improve the lives of families in Florida’s Fifth Congressional District.”

Midway’s City Manager Linda Dilworth said with the expansion, the Eugene Lamb, Jr. Recreation Center would better serve the fitness, recreation and enrichment needs of the Midway community while also strengthening community and economic development.

Dilworth said expansion is a priority because the Eugene Lamb, Jr. Recreation Center currently serves as the City of Midway’s sole source of multipurpose recreational infrastructure.

The city has agreed to commit $415,000 of local general revenue funding for the project.

The city’s project request application states the $2 million, if the budget is also passed by the Senate and approved by the president, will cover the architecture, engineering and legal expenses, as well as the permitting and construction costs.

“It’s a desperate need of the City of Midway,” Dilworth said. “I’m prayerful. So far so good,” she added.

According to the project request application, if the project is funded, the estimated start date of the expansion process is October 1, with an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2022.

Although Dilworth hoped the federal legislators would vote on the matter before their respective breaks, Lawson’s press secretary Stephanie Lambert said the Senate isn’t expected to vote on the infrastructure and transportation bill before they went on break, and Lambert said that even getting the legislators to a vote is not guaranteed.

Erin Hill - Gadsden County News Service

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Midway gets first-stage approval for $2 million to expand the recreation center

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