4/12/2006

 Ask the Community
Many in Pines are apathetic to costly community center
 By Don Klein
 
A random series of sidewalk interviews of Ocean Pines property owners by The Courier last week showed that no one questioned was agreeable to the additional cost for the proposed Community Center and only a handful would be willing to even have it returned to referendum.
 
The controversy over the increased cost of the new community center has left most people confused and to the point of exasperation.
 
If this feeling represents the majority of property owners, the community center project could be in jeopardy.  No one favors the Ocean Pines Association (OPA) appropriating the proposed additional $2 million that has been called for by the building company.
 
At issue is the plan, approved by referendum last August, to construct a new community center at the sports core adjacent to the south gate pond. The 29,000 square foot multi-use facility was given a thumb’s up by the community at a cost of $3.9 million but a construction management firm shocked everyone with a report earlier this year that billowed the cost to about $6 million.
 
The Courier’s admittedly unscientific survey is based on the opinions collected from more than a dozen qualified community voters quizzed at places like the Community Church, the Ocean Pines public library and other public areas in Ocean Pines environs. Although the responders uniformly rejected the extra costs, they fell into groups with three consuming points of view.
 
People who:
 1. Do not care if the community center is built or not. 
 2. Would like to see a new center developed but not at the inflated price.
 3. Prefer the entire project return to the drawing board and put to another referendum.
 
One survey-taker reported the predominant feeling was apathy. Many were people who claimed they would seldom take advantage of any of the facilities at the new center.  Others said they would welcome the new meeting rooms to relieve the pressure for space at the library, but none thought it was worth the added cost.
 
A number of those interviewed suggested that the land be sold in order to take advantage of the “real estate bubble” and use the revenue to build a new center. If the revenues fail to reach the needed funding level, the project should be scaled down drastically.  
 
Another viewpoint was to use the original authorization to refurbish the old community hall, which would consume about half the amount approved at the referendum and use the left over funds to add facilities to White Horse Park.
 
Not surprisingly, there were a number of people approached by The Courier who had little knowledge of the community center situation and said they could care less as long as no money was demanded of them. One stated he never took advantage of any features available at the present community hall and does not see any need for a new facility.
 
Several took particularly hardheaded attitudes in addition to decrying the need for a community center in the first place. They said the OPA is bound by the price limitations of the referendum and if they could not build a center for $3.9 million the project should go back to the community for another vote.
 
The few who still favored the community center project despite the additional cost, hoped that the board would stay very close to the original funding limit or take it back to the voters for a new referendum.
 
Several members of the Community Church at Ocean Pines, on Route 589, wondered why the OPA could not build a structure like the family life center at the church. This is a 14,000 square foot facility that cost $1.1 million when it was built last year. Added to the initial construction cost was another $50,000 needed to equip the kitchen.
 
This comparison is not nearly comparable to the planned Community Center, largely because the church facility is about half its size.
 
There were some interviewees who expressed extreme frustration. Even though they were originally enthusiastic about the new center, they do not now favor a new referendum to approve the higher costs.
 
Meanwhile the OPA has sent the project back to Design Atlantic Ltd., the project architects, for new specifications which will be turned over to the construction management company, SPN, Inc., for new cost estimates. No specific date has been set for this renewed work but it is generally expected to be completed by mid-summer at the latest.
 
The informal survey was handled in-house by The Courier reporters in and around the Ocean Pines area. Only owners of Ocean Pines property were questioned. All were promised anonymity to elicit untainted comments. These comments may not necessarily represent the majority views of the area.

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