Council, steering committee entertain idea of using liquor store and VMC to fill needs
Group narrows focus for new senior/community center
By Per Peterson
Meeting as a group for the fourth time in three months last Thursday, the steering committee formed to vet ideas and come up with options for a new community/senior center in Tracy focused in on a handful of recommendations to be brought to the Tracy City Council for this week’s meeting.
The main items agreed upon included using both the former liquor store building and the Veterans Memorial Center; making sure the new building(s) served numerous purposes and had a dedicated space for seniors; the need to hire an activity director; and the continuation of community involvement in any future decisions.
Tracy City Administrator Erik Hansen opened the meeting by handing out estimates for possibilities for a community/senior center site. The numbers were gathered by ISG, an engineering firm that has worked with similar-sized communities in getting similar structures built; the city council recently gave Hansen the go-ahead to hire ISG for this purpose.
ISG’s report, which was a result of a recent tour of the city, included seven options: the former Super Valu building, additions on either side of the Veterans Memorial Center, a courtyard option on the south side of the VMC, the former Asian Market building next to the Post Office, a completely new building and the former liquor store building.
Each option included the total square footage of each building, along with an estimated cost (which includes a full commercial kitchen), ranging from $320,000 (Asian Market at 1,600 square feet) to $1,190,000 (Super Valu at 6,800 square feet).
The committee ultimately chose to complete a process of elimination, after which, the liquor store building and some kind of VMC option were left standing.
See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.