Township seeks grant for senior center work

Staff Writer

By paul godino

Township seeks grant
for senior center work

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Munici-pal officials have submitted an application to the Monmouth County Community Development Program for a grant that would help fund renovations to the senior citizens center.

Freehold Township Public Information Officer Sandy Belan said the application for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) was due July 3. The Township Committee held a special meeting to gain approval for the plan on July 2.

Township Administrator Thomas E. Antus said the new building on Jackson Mills Road that is currently used as the senior center is attached to a pre-existing house. The plan would be to divide the interior into smaller rooms, Antus said.

The new facilities would include a computer and library room, a multipurpose room and a game room, possibly with a pool table. A ramp-accessible sun deck is also in the plans, Belan said.

The interior design and the uses of the rooms were decided upon by the seniors themselves, Belan said.

Antus said that much of the senior center was funded originally by a similar grant.

"The CDBG grants are available, particularly in the area of senior citizens. It seemed to us a perfect fit," Antus said.

Township representatives will make a formal presentation to county officials in late August. Antus said it will then take about a month to learn if Freehold Township will receive the grant.

Mayor Dorothy H. Avallone said these plans existed when the senior center was first proposed. Presently, there is a large room used for just about everything the seniors do. The current proposal to divide the space, she explained, would give the building some smaller rooms so the seniors could participate in other activities more comfortably.

"The senior center is something that’s near and dear to our hearts," the mayor said.

Antus said if notification comes in September that the town has received the grant, the project will go out to bid during the first quarter of 2002. The administrator said township officials would like to have the project completed about a year from now.

Antus said the project will cost an estimated $235,000. The plans will not require review by the Planning Board because all of the work will be done in an existing structure, he said.