Standish residents on Tuesday voted in favor (593 to 547) of the acquisition of a $325,000 parcel of land on which a proposed community center will be built.
The land, owned by James Cummings, is located at 270 Northeast Road, near the municipal center in Standish.
A reserve account created from the sale of the old town office and other tax-acquired properties will be used to purchase the land.
According to Councilor Jeffrey Richardson, who sits on the Community Building Development Committee, the overall purpose of the center is to offer more space for community recreation and activities.
“Most communities our size have a community center and there’s a need out there for space where people can get together,” he said.
Richardson has even proposed that the center can be used as an emergency shelter.
Bob Mooney, a Standish resident who voted against the referendum on Wednesday, said that a community center is unnecessary.
“They’ve got all the schools they want,” he said.
However, Linda Brooks, director of the Recreation Department, said that space in Standish has become more difficult to reserve for particular activities and programs.
“There are school facilities and we are using them,” she said.
But the problem, Brooks points out, is the need for all “facets of the population” to be served, such as preschool programs, Tai Chi classes-which are currently being held in the council chambers-gym space and numerous other activities that are hurting for space.
“Various places are all limited in one way or another,” she said. “I think we’ve been pretty creative with space.”
The community center itself will be voted on during a future election, and according to Brooks, there will be more workshops in which the cost and the architecture of the building will be discussed in detail.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
