- April 25, 2024
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A new Amateur Athletic Union sports complex could soon be calling Dr. Phillips home.
Residents in the area met with county representatives, as well as Amateur Athletic Union President and CEO Dr. Roger Goudy, to discuss the project during a community meeting at Sand Lake Elementary Tuesday, Jan. 7.
The proposed sports complex is located on 9.6 acres of land just south of Fenton Street, with the Phillips Grove neighborhood to the north.
Currently, there is an existing 38,190-square-foot concrete slab on site. The site originally was cleared and partially constructed for the Orlando Volleyball Academy project in 2000.
The property’s current zoning designation is Country Estate District. The applicant, project engineer John Frith, is requesting a special exception to establish an indoor recreation facility. Also requested are two variances: One would allow a building height of 39 feet rather than 35 feet, and the other would allow a rear setback for 25 feet instead of 50 feet.
Goudy said the Amateur Athletic Union currently is an “anchor tenant” for the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort and has been there for 20 years. However, the Amateur Athletic Union is looking to expand its footprint in the Orlando area.
“The purpose of the facility here, we bought it because it’s been sitting there for 20-plus years and they needed a not-for-profit to either buy it or use it,” Goudy said. “They were going to use it as a volleyball club, but they found a new location and went to that location and didn’t use it. Our purposes are a little bit different.”
According to its website, the Amateur Athletic Union was established in 1888 and is one of the largest nonprofit, volunteer-based, multi-sport event organizations in the world. It was founded to establish standards and uniformity in amateur sport.
“The AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs,” its website states. “The AAU philosophy of ‘Sports For All, Forever’ is now shared by nearly 700,000 members and 150,000 volunteers across 41 sports programs and 55 U.S. districts.”
The proposed sports complex comprises 59,671 square feet, with a 3,250-square-foot security residence also on site. It would include four basketball courts, which can easily be converted back and forth to pickle ball courts or eight volleyball courts. All sports offered at the complex, from basketball and volleyball to pickle ball and table tennis, would take place indoors.
The planned building layout also includes shared open space, restrooms, classrooms/playrooms and offices. According to county documents, there would be 221 parking spaces available.
According to the project’s architects, the building will essentially be about one basketball court wider than the originally planned structure. Drivers would access the site through an entry road that comes off the end of Fenton Road. A retention pond behind the building backs up to the wetlands.
Goudy said the facility won’t be large enough to host big tournaments and wouldn’t drive large numbers. However, it would be enough to host clinics, camps, practices and small tournaments.
“We want to do things and use this for clinics and camps and have kids come in for training and practices, maybe, and some overflow activities for some different events we would run at ESPN,” Goudy said. “We would want to put between 16 and 20 of our sports staff over there so we could be neighborhood user friendly. …We want to be part of the community, we want to stay here for a long time.”
The requests for a special exception and both variances will go to the Board of Zoning Adjustment Feb. 6. If the board approves them, they will go before the Board of County Commissioners Feb. 25.
“All I can say as the president and CEO of the AAU is I think we do a lot of good for a lot of kids,” Goudy said. “I really do. … We’re very concerned about the development of kids. One of the problems in our society today is we’re not doing enough to keep the kids busy.
“I always want to be an organization where we do more than sit there and press buttons, because I think it’s good for the kids,” he said. “I think this facility would be the perfect fit for all of the beautiful things you have going on in this area.”
