Shawnee city leaders got a first look Friday at concepts for the city’s proposed community center, including feasibility, site design and public input of residents’ wants and concerns.
The new community center, if approved by Shawnee voters, would be located somewhere on the 26 acres of land at 61st and Woodland, which the city purchased in 2005 for the center. The 2007 recession temporarily halted progress on a new community center, so Mayor Michelle Distler said she wants to make sure it is “100 percent funded” when it’s placed on the ballot, and that the mill levy increase put before voters can cover costs.
“It’s not if we have another recession; it’s when,” she said, adding that she hopes the user fees for the new community center will drop so that members don’t have to pick between paying utility bills and continuing their membership.
Nonetheless, Distler said she is “more optimistic than I’ve been in 12 years.”
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