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OC moves on plan to return community center
Published October 18, 2009
OYSTER CREEK — City Council has moved forward with plans to revamp the old community center and give it back to its original stewards.
Elected officials approved a measure Thursday to have City Attorney Larry Boyd draw up a draft agreement stating the city will spend an estimated $18,000 on repairs before handing it to the Oyster Creek Community Association, which gave the structure to the city decades ago.
The proposed change of hands is expected to save the city more than $100,000 compared with constructing a new facility in place of the old community center, which is in poor condition. The move would also keep the municipality’s first meeting place intact instead of being reduced to rubble.
“This will save the city some money,” Mayor Louis Guidry said.
The association threatened legal action when the city first discussed tearing down the old community center and building a $100,000-plus open-air pavilion in its place. They likened the structure to “an old church,” and the community would not “like to see it get torn down.”
Association member Thomas Ripkoski said at a meeting in September the city was required to keep up the structure, which it no longer used after construction of the new community center was finished in 2004.
When Boyd finishes the draft agreement, the city plans to offer it to the association for approval or requests for changes, Guidry said. Guidry expected the process to take between 30 and 60 days.
Once an agreement is met, the city will begin repairs on the building, which has suffered from roof and water damage. Repairs include new shingles for the roof, installing a new air conditioner, changing out the bathroom fixtures and fixing the trim, Guidry said.
“Then we will turn it over to them,” Guidry said.
Elected officials have called the move to return the old community center “good,” and it would allow the city to “come out of it smelling like a rose.” They have said the city would not be affected by the lost gathering place because it already has a new community center and city parks.
The association built the community center so residents would have a place to meet and discuss issues and gave it to the city in the 1950s. The city began renting out the old community center in the late ’70s upon the construction of City Hall.
Nathaniel Lukefahr covers Oyster Creek for The Facts. Contact him at 979-237-0151.
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