New life for Jefferson County community center?
Published 12:00 am Friday, May 8, 2015
Renovations to an old and much-loved building in Madras are once again up for consideration.
The Bean Foundation wants to repurpose the Westside Elementary School building and turn it into a community center. The foundation acquired an 18-month option to buy the building in September. It’s working with a group of Jefferson County citizens to flesh out a plan and decide if it’s feasible. It has 11 months to decide before the option to buy expires.
The building is located in downtown Madras on SW Fourth Street. The property has nearly 7 acres of land that includes the 77-year-old, 54,000-square-foot school building, a track and plenty of lawn. It’s one of the oldest school buildings in the district.
The Bean Foundation and the year-old Westside Community Center Board of Trustees have tentative plans to hold a public meeting at the school May 28. It will be an opportunity for community members to tour the building and share their ideas of what features they would like to see in the community center.
The Bean Foundation will then draft its vision of the project and have a team of architects and engineers survey the school to determine what renovations are needed and the associated costs of construction and operation. If the foundation can gather the money needed, it will decide whether to buy the building. Bean Foundation President George Neilson said he expects to have an estimate of operation costs by December.
“All of those questions need to be answered before we say yes to exercising the option,” Neilson said Thursday. “The community will be going through the process with us.”
Jefferson County School District closed Westside Elementary in 2008. The district has considered turning it into a community center since 2010, according to Bulletin archives. Today it’s listed as a surplus property of Jefferson County’s 509-J School District, and parts of the building have been updated to meet building codes, said Westside Community Center Board member Regina Macko.
The Kids Club is an after-school program that serves about 200 children a day out of the building.
The High Desert Education Service District runs classes there, along with the Jefferson County School District’s Family University and the alternative high school. The Jefferson County Historical Society has used the building for storage since 2012, and it hopes to occupy the south end of the community center, Jarold Ramsey, president of the Historical Society, told The Bulletin in April.
There is no shortage of ideas coming from the community, Macko said. Options include a museum, a family-friendly recreation center, a cultural center, community garden, technology lab, indoor/outdoor sports venue and more. The space could be used as a conference and event center, and as a venue for 4H classes and teen programs.
“There are so many ideas,” said Romica Comingore, the newest member on the Westside Community Center Board. “When I look at the vision of people working together to improve the quality of living in Jefferson County for kids and young families, just to see it come to fruition is exciting.”
The Bean Foundation is a philanthropic organization based in Madras that helped fund other projects in the city, including Central Oregon Community College’s Madras Education Center and the aquatic center.
The public meeting is expected to take place in the evening of May 28 at the school. Once the time has been finalized it will be posted to the Westside Community Center Facebook page. Those unable to attend the meeting can email their feedback to firstname.lastname@example.org.
— Reporter: 541-383-0354, email@example.com