EDITORIAL Center is long overdue for renovation.
The township’s Community Center is about 27 years old and it has been showing its age for about a third of that time.
The facility, located in Woodlot Park on New Road, was built at a time when the township had 15,000 residents and provided just the barest of recreational opportunities. It has no air conditioning, an undersized indoor basketball court, just two classrooms and floors and walls that look every bit of the building’s 27 years.
In a town with about 43,000 residents and a thriving recreational program, it stands as an odd monument of neglect especially when compared with the state-of-the-art senior center built next to the township Municipal Building about 15 years ago and updated several times since.
Recreation officials admit that the building is under-used mostly because the center lacks the kinds of amenities that would be attractive to either teens or adults. It is too small to run the kind of classes other communities offer, such as aerobics, or to act as a real teen or arts center.
The schools, through the Community Education program, do offer some of these programs. But the school buildings also are being used to their stressing point. There also is a relatively new YMCA on Culver Road, but the demand, the number of residents interested in taking classes or participating in programs offered by all three organizations, far outstrips the supply.
It’s time the township brings the building into the 21st century.
Members of the Township Council and the Recreation Advisory Board are beginning to discuss what a new facility should look like. They plan to visit community centers in other communities to see what an updated facility might contain and then make proposals for upgrades to the full council. At that point, a plan will be drafted and money set aside.
This seems an overly cautious approach. We believe the council should be more aggressive in approaching upgrades, making the building the same kind of priority that it has made the senior center over the years. It should set a timetable for upgrades and set aside seed money now to demonstrate its commitment to the facility.
We believe a new or upgraded community center should include several components:
Enough classrooms to provide programs for all age groups, including classes on art.
A full-sized gym, a small weight room and a dance/aerobics studio.
A teen center that includes activities pool tables, video games, music that might actually make it a destination point for younger teens.
An appropriate home for the township food pantry, which has been moved from its former location in the senior center to a temporary trailer and eventually will be moved to the new utilities building, which will house the Department of Public Works.
Enough office space for the recreation staff.
We have no illusions about cost. Upgrades like this will come with a significant price tag. And we acknowledge that the current fiscal climate may not be perfect for such a project. Some of the cash could be raised privately, using the same techniques perfected by supporters of the library to arrange its $4.5 million expansion.
We think it would be a worthwhile investment.