Conflicting resolutions on community center plans

Conflicting resolutions on community center plans

HILTON-PARMA -- After attending the Parma Town Board and Hilton Village Board meetings, August 7, Sally Snow, library director, doesn’t care where a new library is located. “We just want a new library,” Snow said. “I don’t care where they put it.”

A couple meetings and a couple passed resolutions later left Snow unsure of the project’s future. Just two weeks ago Snow and Steve Fowler, Hilton-Parma Recreation director, hosted an information session on a proposal to create a 55,000 square foot joint recreation and library facility to be located at either the Parma Town Hall or the Village Community Center, with an estimated price tag of $17 million. For those in the room who voiced their opinions during the meeting the proposed project seemed well received.

It hasn’t had the same reception since.

At the village board meeting the board approved two resolutions regarding the project. First, the board removed the Community Center, located on Henry Street, as a possibility for the joint facility and welcomed additional study by the DeWolff Partnership as to the merit of relocating only the library in the Village Community Center. Second, the board asserted its desire to have the public library remain within the village.

At the town board meeting, the DeWolff Partnership presented a slightly revised plan that reduced the project cost to an estimated $16 million and reduced the facility’s size by about 5,000 square feet. The DeWolff Partnership also presented the cost savings associated with moving to a joint facility. The amount saved was estimated at more than $1 million. That savings factored in sharing facility space, savings associated with economy of scale and sharing incidental costs.

The town board’s response was to ask for more detailed floor plans. The board members did not indicate whether the proposal would go forward for public referendum in November.

Snow said moving the library to the existing Community Center on Henry Street would not be ideal. “It is possible, but the result won’t be the best,” Snow said.