Updated at 11:21 p.m.
The proposed regional field house in Manchester did not garner enough voter support from the host town itself, unofficial Town Meeting Day results show.
Of 959 Manchester residents who voted by Australian ballot on Tuesday, 491 said no to the concept of the Northshire Community Field House and 455 voted yes. The rest of the voters abstained, according to figures from the town clerk.
Under the current plan, Manchester would shoulder $3 million of the $14 million cost to build the 67,000-square-foot facility. The town would own and operate it. Tuesday’s votes are advisory and do not bind the town government.
The field house, which would be built within Manchester’s Dana Thompson Memorial Park, is envisioned as a sporting venue, recreation center and programming space to serve multiple towns.
The facility aims to promote health, fitness and social interaction, according to project proponents. They said an indoor location is particularly important in an area that has long, severe winters.
The Right Track Foundation Inc., a Manchester family foundation that proposed setting up the field house, has pledged $3.5 million.
The rest of the construction costs would largely be funded by towns that choose to participate. Their portions would be calculated under a formula based on the town grand list, population and distance from the facility.
In exchange, town residents or those who own a second home would get priority to use the field house spaces and a reduced membership rate.
The field house also failed to win majority voter support in Dorset, the second largest among the eight southwestern Vermont towns that sought advisory votes on the issue this Town Meeting Day. Some 208 Dorset residents voted no, while 100 said yes, according to data from the town clerk.
In Sunderland, the “no” side squeaked by with one vote, 89 to 88.
Meanwhile, voters in two towns indicated support for the facility, based on available results Tuesday night.
During a floor vote that day, Winhall voters said their “selectboard can certainly look into the field house further,” Town Clerk Elizabeth Grant told VTDigger. The vote involved 75 town residents, she said.
In Landgrove, 28 people voted for the project, 22 against and 3 abstained, the town clerk said.
Although the Town Meeting results do not bind the towns that have expressed interest in the field house, they will inform local officials and project proponents on how to proceed.
It was not immediately clear Tuesday night what next steps project advocates would take following the lack of support from voters in Manchester and other towns.
Manchester Town Manager John O’Keefe said in an interview last week that the field house’s financial viability given its proposed size would depend on the participation of towns with a combined population of 10,000.
Winhall and Landgrove, which have indicated support for the facility, have about 1,400 residents combined as of the 2020 census.
The three towns whose Town Meeting Day vote results were unavailable by Tuesday night — Danby, Peru and Rupert — have a combined population of around 2,500.
Londonderry plans to also hold an advisory vote on the field house at its town meeting April 30. The town has a population of approximately 1,900.
The estimated contribution of towns that included the field house on their Town Meeting Day agenda are as follows: Danby $413,000, Dorset $1.3 million, Landgrove $110,000, Londonderry $628,000 and the above-mentioned $3 million from Manchester.
The estimates for the other towns are: Peru $326,000, Rupert $223,000, Sunderland $438,000 and Winhall $787,000.
The field house’s proposed design features a 227-meter running track, 45-foot rock climbing tower and fitness center.
It also includes a couple of multipurpose rooms — which could host community events or classes — as well as three multipurpose courts for basketball, volleyball, pickleball and futsal, a type of indoor soccer. The courts could be converted into space for other sports, such as gymnastics and baseball training.
