Center discussion resumes

THE VACANT LOT adjacent to Tracy’s City Hall was discussed once again Monday as a possible site for a new community center. Photo / Per Peterson

The proposed new community center once again found its way  on the Tracy City Council’s agenda at Monday’s meeting.

After hearing input from Jeff Nelson, the project’s architect, the council set a meeting of the Community Center Workforce Group for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 21, to further discuss the project in light of new information — including a cost estimate — provided Monday. It will be the group’s first meeting since late February.

Nelson, of Falls Architecture of Sioux Falls, put together a schematic design report on a proposed center for the council. While the empty lot at the intersection of South and 4th streets has tentatively been selected as the site for a new center, Nelson asked City officials at his May 4 tour of the city what other locations have been discussed.

Those areas included the second floor of the Veterans Memorial Center, the former Super Valu building, the old liquor store, former “old-old” bakery, the former Asian Market building, former theater building and the vacant lot just the east of City Hall, once home to the Masonic Lodge building.

After discussing the various sites, Nelson concluded that an alternative viable option could be to include the project as part of downtown development, an option that could allow the City to garner other sources of funding that might not otherwise be available for a building at the South/4th St. site.

“Not to throw a wrinkle in everything, but I wanted to learn about what was going on in Tracy and are there other opportunities?” Nelson said. “We looked at a variety of sites … all of these sites have pros and cons.”

See more in this week’s paper.