Thursday, October 26, 2000 Older Editions

Foundation nearly pulls plug on youth center

By Rebecca Piro

Stung by a lack of support from town officials, Andover Youth Foundation members nearly yanked the youth-center proposal from the Special Town Meeting warrant yesterday.

But adult members say an impassioned plea by youth involved with the project to fight for the center reenergized the entire foundation Wednesday morning. As a result, about 25 AYF members voted unanimously to continue pushing for a youth center and plan to challenge selectmen and Finance Committee members at Town Meeting.

"We all went through a period of being discouraged and angry, but we're not here for ourselves, we're here for the young people," says AYF member Larry Larsen.

"If the question was asked (Tuesday), I think we would not have continued, but there were a number of youth that asked us to continue," says AYF member Bob McQuade, former public works director. "They are willing to take on the town fathers at Town Meeting."

The private group has proposed to raise $4 million for the construction of a youth center behind the West Andover Fire Station near Ledge Road. As of Wednesday's vote, residents will vote on the project at the Special Town Meeting in November, but Larsen is unhappy with the lack of support AYF has received from many town officials and community groups.

"If the leadership and government of this community is not willing to support (the proposal), is it worth doing?" asked Larsen before the vote.

McQuade says that the selectmen and Finance Committee stances are "going to make it awful difficult to win a Town Meeting, but (the AYF youth) are willing to take a chance."

Larsen also says he is tired of what he sees as endless questions that AYF has done its best to answer - without even being sure that they will have a youth center to build. It's time for the community to accept the gift AYF has offered, he says.

"There is sort of an assumption that AYF will toil forever, answering questions until the spring of next year. That isn't going to happen," Larsen says.

"We won't have any further answers in the spring. We've gone as far as we can now," McQuade says.

AYF has already spent $50,000 on preliminary plans, and it won't spend the $200,000 needed for more involved plans until it gets Town Meeting approval for the project.

McQuade says its fundraiser, Tom Jones, also believes the decision needs to be made in the fall, rather than the spring, so fundraisers will have this school year to raise money.

Limited support

AYF's decision to vote on whether to pursue the project came after the Board of Selectmen failed to take a stand on the youth-center article Monday night, immediately following the Financial Committee's statement that it would not recommend the article for approval.

The Planning Board unanimously voted to recommend approval Tuesday night.

Selectmen were split 2-2-1. Chairman Brian Major and Ted Teichert voted to recommend approval, Mary French and John Hess voted against, and Lori Becker abstained.

Those against the proposal said the town and AYF need to more fully develop the plan.

"It's simply not ready for (Special) Town Meeting," says Financial Committee Chairwoman Joanne Marden. "We think voters should know what they are getting. They need to know how it's going to be financed and what impact it's going to have on other budgets and the tax rate."

Larsen says he expects it to cost the town $200,000 per year to operate and maintain the building once it is built by the private group.

"I think that's an honest figure and I think the town can afford it. I don't think it will harm school programs or other programs. It's a matter of priority and it's a matter of will."

Community center still option for some

Major supports a youth center, and says the facility can be used by others, such as those taking community-services courses.

However, Selectman Lori Becker says she worries that voters may not realize what they are getting if town officials confuse them with ideas not relative to the issue at hand.

Talk concerning a community center - a combined facility for youth and seniors - has increased among a few heads of key groups, though selectmen have not sat down together to discuss the concept as a board, says Becker.

Major says seniors and youths have not sat down to discuss the idea.

"If the board was leading the directive as a truly town-sponsored type of thing, then my guess is that this board would lean towards a community center. However, that's not the task that we were given," says Becker.

Major admits that he would like to see a community center materialize, rather than build duplicate centers in two different places that would essentially house many of the same types of programs. The community center he envisions could be one building - an extension of the youth center, if one is built - or a separate building on the same West Andover "campus" as the proposed youth center site.

"I look at the youth center moving forward and being a successful project to the cornerstone of the whole operation out behind West Andover. That could be the anchor to a community center or a youth center all itself," Major says.

Both Larsen and McQuade say the youth center site has room to add a swimming pool or another wing that could be used for a senior activities, if seniors decided they were interested in the option.

"I think there's room for that, but I want to make it clear that we in no way are making any comment on the senior effort. The issue is, is there room, and yes, there is," says Larsen.

Council on Aging Chairwoman Dorothy Bresnahan says that the concept of a community center has not been discussed at great length, and the seniors still have their eyes fastened on their goal of restoring Will Hall for a separate senior center.

"Even with all the other concepts floating around out there, we still have our eyes on our own goal," she says. "We still have time to meet our goal."

But if the seniors do not raise a satisfactory sum by May of 2001 - in accordance with the building's lease - seniors will have to reevaluate their options, says Major. If the youth center is passed at that point, it would be a perfect opportunity for the seniors to become involved.

It is crucial to pass the youth-center article first, as the first step in any kind of development, says Major.

"A key component is passing the youth center," Major says. "If it doesn't pass, then the whole notion goes away, and I don't see it coming back for a very long time."

AYF agrees, but is tired of the town's haggling over the details as if the proposal were its own.

"I think that the town may have lost sight of the fact that this is our gift," says Larsen. "It is not theirs to demand."

Neil Fater contributed to this report.