JOSH FIELDS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Business marketing junior Paul Zakhary starts his afternoon workout by reaching for a dumbbell in the Student Recreation Center yesterday. ASUA senators will decide tomorrow whether students will be allowed to vote on an expansion to the facilities in 2009.

ASUA senators will vote tomorrow on whether or not students should vote in an election slated for the fall about a possible expansion of the Student Recreation Center for 2009.

The dates for the vote are tentatively scheduled for Oct. 24 and 25.

"If ASUA feels that is adequate enough time for educating students on the matter, then that will be the time table," said Sara Birnbaum, ASUA executive vice president.

A student referendum must be passed in order for the Rec Center to start breaking ground on an addition that would cost students attending the UA in 2009 an extra $34 in yearly tuition to fund the more than $35 million expansion. The increase would raise the Rec Center's student yearly fee from $50 to $84 a year.

Students attending the UA between 2009 and 2011 would pay both the $84 fee on top of the current $50 fee to help relieve the initial bond payment the Rec Center has to pay in yearly payments, said Juliette Moore, director of campus recreation.

The expansion would up the already 80,000-square-foot Rec Center to more than 115,000 square feet, Moore said.

But Moore said the expansion relies first on ASUA support. If the student leaders pass the resolution, the students can then vote on the expansion.

"We're just trying to get the information out to ASUA to pass along to the students in order to cater to student needs," Moore said. "The project can happen if students determine they want it to happen. But it's up to them decide if it's worth it."

Birnbaum said the Rec Center referendum has gone through the necessary steps to be merited a worthwhile matter for students to vote on. She said ASUA is impartial in the matter and wants students to be the ultimate arbiters in deciding whether the fee should be imposed.

With more than 3,600 students using the Rec Center daily and with more than 700,000 visits annually, Moore said enough students have complained about lines that start anywhere from 3 p.m. to midnight. She said the Rec Center is merely listening to students who are asking for bigger workout facilities to decrease wait times.

Moore said the Rec Center compiled a survey last year in which more than 64 percent of students and faculty were in favor of the new addition.

"This is for our future students to be provided with a place that encourages healthy lifestyles," Moore said. "More and more students are becoming health conscious and are seeking ways to help improve themselves."

Birnbaum said she was pleased that the proposed fee would not be implemented until completion of the project and said the Rec has the best interest of the students in mind.

"It's really important students who wouldn't have the option to use it, wouldn't have to pay for it," Birnbaum said. "It would be ridiculous for them to pay if they can't use it.

Students who regularly attend the Rec Center said the expansion would be a good idea no matter how much it costs.

David Murphy, an undeclared freshman, said he's in favor of a bigger Rec because he doesn't want to wait in lines during the prime time between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

"That's the most convenient time for me because that's when I get out of class," Murphy said. "If additions are worth that much, it would be worth the extra tuition costs."

Kelly Blake, an interdisciplinary studies junior, said she tries to avoid going to the Rec Center between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. because lines can last upward of 15 minutes, resulting in Blake having to use the track instead of a preferred cardio machine.

Blake said more elliptical machines are needed since they are always being used.

"An expansion would definitely be worth it," Blake said. "You don't even notice it in tuition costs."

UA students went through a similar resolution in 1985 to help fund the $15 million Rec Center that opened in 1990. More than 54.2 percent of students were in favor of the implementation of the Rec Center, while 45.8 percent were opposed.