The Roanoke Times | File August

Terry Caldwell (left), the director of the Christiansburg Aquatic Center, and Wayne Hunter, who has 19 years of combined service with the town and will help run the new aquatics center, stand in the facility. The $14.5 million aquatics center, which has been in planning phases since 2004, is on pace to open this spring, missing the original Jan. 1 target.

CHRISTIANSBURG -- The 25-year aquatics center deal between Virginia Tech and the town is two signatures away from becoming official.

"It's been signed off on by both parties legal staffs," Town Manager Lance Terpenny said. Now he and Tech President Charles Steger must endorse the contract.

The $14.5 million aquatics center, which has been in planning phases since 2004, is on pace to open this spring, missing the original Jan. 1 target. The two-story, 52,000-square-foot facility will house three pools and space for such things as recreational swimming, children's birthday parties and Atlantic Coast Conference and other swimming meets.

Before Terpenny signs the lease agreement, a public hearing is set at the Jan. 6 Christiansburg Town Council meeting to discuss the terms of the contract and allow any discussion.

Terpenny said he has also been advised by legal staff that the town should go through the request-for-proposal process before signing the contract. He said some on the town's legal team think the town may be legally obligated to go through the process so that anyone other than Tech has the opportunity to express interest in creating a deal to host meets at the facility.

They will discuss this over the next few days, and if they decide to do an RFP, it would be stated through the public hearing notice. "The lawyers seem to not be in full agreement" on if this is necessary, Terpenny said. "But I suspect what we're going to do is go through the process."

Though the contract has been in the works for more than a year, Terpenny said he hasn't been concerned with getting it completed. Since the April 16, 2007, shootings at Tech, the university's legal team has been tied up with the victims' families, which slowed the aquatics contract process, Terpenny said. Finally both parties are satisfied with the contract, he said.

"Neither [Steger] nor I would sign it until our attorneys were 100 percent comfortable with the verbage," he said.

The contract states that Tech will pay the town $250,000 annually during the next 20 years, with the first payment due April 1. The remaining five years of the agreement will be free of charge.

The money will be dispersed to pay for the construction costs of the aquatics center.

In return for the annual payments, Tech will use the facilities for training and meets for its intercollegiate swimming and diving teams.

The town will make the pool available to Tech's swim teams five to six days a week between the hours of 5 and 10 a.m. and 2 and 7 p.m. Tech must advise the town about its training schedule annually by March 1 for the period of May 1 to Aug. 31 and by July 1 for the period of Sept. 1 to April 30.

Tech will have exclusive use of the pool for 10 weekend meets, and the town must be notified of the dates by Aug. 1 annually.

The interior facilities and competitive pool will be decorated in a way that clearly identifies Tech as the "home" pool for both training and meets. Decorations will be done in a way to identify Christiansburg High School as the "home" pool for its swim team.

Tech's men and women's swimming and diving teams will have exclusive use of their own locker rooms, with the school having full discretion with any decoration, refurbishment, upgrade or renovations.

Christiansburg is responsible for maintenance and operation, except for any personal property provided and exclusively used by Tech.

At Tuesday's meeting, town council announced the names of the six people to serve on its new Aquatic Center Advisory Board.

"All of these folks have good credentials and aquatics experience," Mayor Richard Ballengee said.

The board members are Bert Locklin, Michael St. Jean and Steve Simmons, receiving three-year terms, and Jeremy Williams, Karen Drake and Shirley Hallock, serving two-year terms.

Councilman Jim Vanhoozier was appointed as the liaison to the board and will receive $25 per meeting, Ballengee said. He said several meetings will take place before the aquatics center opens, and then the board will meet on an as-needed basis.

At Tuesday's meeting, council questioned Terpenny on when the business plan will be completed by Terry Caldwell, the director of aquatics, which would be the final major piece of the puzzle for the center. After some discussion, a March 1 deadline was set.