Saddle Brook Eyes Shared Use of Fair Lawn Community Center
Fair Lawn and Saddle Brook are set to discuss a shared service agreement that would provide township residents access to the Fair Lawn Community Center.
Officials from Fair Lawn and Saddle Brook have engaged in shared service discussions on a multitude of issues in recent weeks, but none as potentially impactful to residents as a plan that would provide township residents access to the Fair Lawn Community Center.
Details of any potential arrangement have yet to be hammered out, but on its face, joint use of the community center should prove a boon for both towns.
Saddle Brook residents would gain access to much-needed recreational space and Fair Lawn would bring in revenue and appease folks who consider the $12-plus million community center an underutilized boondoggle.
Deputy Mayor John Cosgrove recently gave township officials a tour of the 42,000 square foot facility that left Saddle Brook Mayor Karen Chamberlain gushing over its potential application for township athletes and thespians.
“It’s dream rainbow for Saddle Brook," said Chamberlain, who's targeting use of the building for both recreation and the arts.
Chamberlain said she's longed for years to build a recreation center in Saddle Brook but that the lack of funding and usable space have prevented her dream from becoming reality.
“I’ve been involved with recreation for 25, 30 years and as close as we’ve come in those 30 years is Veterans Field to accommodating Saddle Brook recreation," she said.
Chamberlain, who has also tried unsuccessfully to establish arts programs in Saddle Brook, said she's particularly excited about the potential to make use of Fair Lawn's 170-seat theater.
"The stage setting is just like Broadway," she said. "They have the youth there that are interested in sound and lighting, and we, Saddle Brook, have the talent. We just don’t have the facilities."
Having received Fair Lawn council's consent Tuesday night to proceed with discussions, the borough manager is now authorized to hash out the specifics of the agreement, which have yet to be negotiated.
Chamberlain said she would like Saddle Brook residents to be afforded full access to the facility, which, in addition to a theater, contains a basketball court, fitness center, indoor walking track, arcade and game room, computer center and conference space.
"We want it all," she said. "That's my goal."
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Stuart Pace
4:03 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Depends if the money comes directly back to the taxpayers as a refund, and not into some account we will never see. Make it so.
Tommy P
10:54 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Come on Stuart, you don't expect them to return the money, do you? At the very least the money should be used to pay down the bonds, oh wait that's probably illegal. I feel for the Saddle Brook residents who are about to be hood winked. Don't be surprised if they successfully block it.
courts
4:28 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
when i go to adult open gym it is packed, sometimes i leave without playing because id have to wait to join a game and by the time i do its almost over. im open to sharing the facilities but if saddle brook residents are allowed to attend open gym it would be way too many people.
i feel the rec center also loses opportunity on raising money. many people have expressed interest in a adult basketball league. if they had a winter and a summer league they could have 20 teams, 10 people on each team, $25 a person. this would also work for other sports and activities.
Jt
5:16 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Good god, we as fair lawn taxpayers have been burdened enough with this building, fair lawn politicians better not give the farm away, if saddle brook wants a part of it, they better cough up 16 million bucks, plus maintenance fees..
Jenne
12:01 pm on Thursday, September 20, 2012
So, basically, you'd rather not get *some* additional money to allay the fixed costs of this building?
*headdesk*
Tommy P
8:15 am on Friday, September 21, 2012
Remember all that money we took in with the pool? Actually, it was 100s of thousands paid for by tax payers. The senior center boasts non-paying out of town members, we lose there again. The SB@Community Center project is going to be a high fee to SB residents, few will pay it and the community center will STILL cost the taxpayers 100s of thousands a year, many times over.
Jt
5:23 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Dream rainbow says chamberlain, sure because fair lawn pays for that building. An immediate court injunction should take place to end this nonsense. This building was built on fair lawn taxpayers backs!
*
6:17 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Lets sell the property to Saddle Brook and rent use of it as part of shared services.....
Tommy P
10:55 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
I couldn't agree with you more.
Michael Agosta
5:16 pm on Thursday, September 20, 2012
Only an idiot would buy that building! (Oh, we did!!)
Marc rosenblatt
8:04 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
I agree. I'm selling my fair lawn house and moving to saddlebrook where the taxes are 1/3 cheaper. Then I can use the fair lawn pool and community center at a huge discount!
Mark C.
9:09 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Just fix the games in the arcade section. I would go with the kids more often if the games worked.
Tommy P
10:58 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
My nephew took his daughter there and saw the staff playing one of the games, an unused "computer room" and a number of adults in a gym area inside that "teen room". To quote him, "You couldn't pay me to go back". I'm not sure fixing the third of broken arcade games is going to fix the mess that mess.
LENNY
8:37 am on Thursday, September 20, 2012
this action by our elected officals shows this center is under used a load on the tax payers back. have we re done the loan to the lower interest rates that are out their? the taxpayers should have had a chance to vote on this center but where never given that right. some one is makeing a lot of money on the interst and it is not the fair lawn tax payers!
...Just Saying
12:46 pm on Thursday, September 20, 2012
Do any of you actually attend council meetings or do you rely only on the patch?
You really don't have a clue! One post says don't share services because the place is to crowded. Another says it is under used. Lenny, if you took the time to attend meetings you would know that the Community Center was refinanced by the council. Don't want to let people know who you are, watch it on TV! ....Just Saying
Deleted because of harassment
9:15 am on Thursday, September 20, 2012
A group of residents that included myself spent months putting together proposed uses for the center, made a presentation and that was as far as it went. The trustees were not interested in any of the alternative proposals at the time. Part of the facilities is never used, like the "teen room" and some of the interior spaces. Other parts are in high demand. The center needs what it has needed from the state - a proactive director to supervise uses and to make events happen there to benefit all residents. It's a beautiful but underused and badly designed (no kitchen facilities for catering) that coould be a showplace with better management addressing the deficiencies of the venue.
Jenne
12:03 pm on Thursday, September 20, 2012
Maybe the board of ed could hold the elementary and middle school concerts there so they could have them in the evening, instead of putting them in the afternoon when us working parents can't come.
truthhurts
6:59 pm on Thursday, September 20, 2012
First the skate park debacle, and now this. The council is grasping at straws!
The problem with any use (over or under) of the Recreation Center lies in it's poor management, the same management that cant keep our parks clean (see other article). Suggesting that opening our facility to another town would in any way improve the Rec Center or it's operation is a joke. The problems will be many and they will likely be poorly handled. There will be fights between Fair Lawn children and Saddle Brook children and the competition for use of different spaces will get ugly, afterall, our residents are entitled to priority use of the facility.
Maybe we should let Saddle Brook share the services of our manager and councilmembers. I think they should take them every Tuesday night. That should produce a significant decrease in desperate attempts at misguided management in Fair Lawn, and significant improve our quality of life.