Building Momentum: Plans for Proposed Community Center Unveiled

Rendering of the proposed Community Center as it would look from Central Avenue. It would be built on the site of the public school building that closed in 2012.

Building a community center in Sea Isle City is not a new idea. But a level of excitement is growing as concept plans for the multipurpose facility were revealed at the Aug. 11 city council meeting.

“We are greatly looking forward to constructing a community center that will fill all of Sea Isle’s recreation and civic needs,” says Mayor Leonard Desiderio.

“We want this to be a place where people want to go,” says Katherine Custer, Sea Isle City’s director of community services. “A place where people can say, ‘I’m looking forward to getting there, to being in that building, seeing my friends and neighbors.’”

The proposed community center, projected to open in 2023, would be built on the site of the former public school building at 4501 Park Road.

“The facility we have in mind will include a large gymnasium with an elevated walking track, spacious meeting rooms, a large workout room for our popular fitness programs and other worthwhile amenities,” Desiderio says.

Though the project is still in the early stages of development, the unveiling of concept plans was an important step in the process.

At the meeting, architect Henry Hengchua presented city council with a detailed rendering for a community center that would fit in the footprint of the former school building.

“The concept plan gives a blueprint of a possible building to construct,” says Custer. “It shows where we can put different rooms, different spaces for functions, and how the gym could be placed.”

Though no decision has been made on the exterior, the conceptual rendering featured a red brick building that the architect said he chose to convey a warm feeling. Says Custer: “The mayor definitely wants to make the building pleasing to the eye, to conform with the beauty of the residential area around it.”

Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations will require the building to be elevated, so plans also include an area for parking underneath the main level.

Custer is excited about all of the possibilities for the proposed facility. “This will be a community center for everyone and a building that will enrich the entire community,” she says. “This will give people an opportunity to enjoy a variety of activities under one roof at the same time. So, we can have basketball and pickleball playing in the gym, while AARP is having their luncheon meeting, then across the hall a yoga class can be taking place. We expect a lot of activity in the building. It will be a place where things are happening, a place of action.”

The proposed facility would feature a gymnasium with an elevated walking track, meeting rooms, a workout room and other amenities.

But to look toward the future of the community center, it’s helpful to understand the project’s origins. “The city constructed a one-story public school building at 4501 Park Road in 1972,” Custer says. “In 2012, due to low enrollment, the city board of education moved the last of the students to Ocean City, effectively closing the school.”

The fact that the building stood unused and available turned out to be fortuitous.

“We have this empty school building and six months later along comes Hurricane Sandy,” Custer recalls. “Sandy damaged our Public Safety and City Hall buildings, so those functions moved into the empty school building while the city constructed a new City Hall and Public Safety building on JFK Boulevard.”

In 2015, city operations moved out of the old building and it started being used for recreation, some civic needs, and storage. When the city went through a master plan re-examination around that time, a questionnaire was circulated. One of the questions posed regarded the future of the old school.

The majority of respondents favored using the building for recreation. Armed with that information, city officials moved forward and “really started taking the temperature of the people,” Custer says.

“Some people wanted a swimming pool attached to a recreation facility, other people didn’t want anything but renovations to the existing building. Still others wanted a new facility. So, we did a couple of things to figure out what people really wanted.

“We used a paper survey created during a town hall meeting and we also had a ballot referendum on last year’s election ballot asking specifically if people wanted an indoor pool or not. The bottom line after sifting through all of the input was the decision to build a new facility, but not a pool.”

In addition to offices for county employees, plans for the community center include meeting rooms, the big gymnasium and fitness rooms, as well as an auditorium with fixed seating, and gathering spaces.

“Let’s say you’re taking a child to an event, or want to get together with friends after a yoga class,” says Custer. “There will be comfortable spaces for people to wait and gather.”

She asserts that the building will be good for the city overall and will improve property values.

“This is the type of building where people will say ‘I want to be in SIC,’ ” Custer says. “They say it now – because Sea Isle is a great town! But I think it will benefit us to have a state-of-the-art facility that will allow us to hold events and functions in a manner we’ve not been able to do in the past.”

Of course, there is much to be done before the community center is complete. As Desiderio says: “It’s important to point out that plans for this facility are still in the early stages of development and there is still more decision-making to do.”

But the mayor is also optimistic about the progress.

“If all goes well and the process for constructing our future community center continues as we hope, we anticipate hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility in the spring of 2023. In the meantime, we will keep everyone aware of the progress of this important project as our plans unfold,” he says.

For more information about the project, Custer encourages people to register for the city newsletters and alerts on the city’s municipal website, seaislecitynj.us.

She promises “the city’s administration plans to keep the public in the loop as this project develops.”