By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Township leaders have downsized plans for the long-anticipated community recreation center here, lopping $10 million off the estimated cost.

Groundbreaking could come as soon as spring, but the center likely won't open for at least two years.

Still to be decided is where to build the proposed 110,000-square-foot center and whether the Lakota School District, which wants a larger pool at the site, will help pay for it, Trustee Catherine Stoker said Thursday.

Financial details, too, are being discussed. The center would take about 20 years to pay off.

Based on community meetings held earlier this year, a new feasibility study shows residents want a scaled-back version of the original $30 million proposal.

A 110,000-square-foot center to serve 6,400 families would cost $20 million and have fewer basketball courts and meeting rooms, according to the study.

Neighbors in the community meetings have indicated they would be willing to pay up to $100 a month for their families to join the center. West Chester residents have expressed the need for a community center as nearby areas such as Mason, Sharonville and Blue Ash build them.

"Everybody wanted everything," said Dan Zieverink, who attended the community sessions and also serves on the township's parks action committee. "For West Chester to continue being one of the best places to live, we need a community center to stay up with surrounding areas.

"We knew it was going to be very expensive, but people didn't want it to be a business," he continued.

"We want it to be a place for the community, not a health facility they could make money on."

The township has narrowed down the possible location to two parcels off Union Centre Boulevard, one the township already owns and another it would have to buy:

An 18-acre site at Union Centre Boulevard and West Chester Road across from Lakota West High School would cost the township about $2 million to $2.5 million.

The 150-acre, mostly undeveloped Beckett Park at Beckett Road and Union Centre Boulevard.

Schumacher Dugan Construction Inc., the company that owns the land the township would buy, is offering to donate some of it. The property is in a prime location at Union Centre close to Interstate 75, Ms. Stoker said.

Chris Wunnenberg, Schumacher Dugan's director of development, declined comment Thursday.

The Beckett Park site - about a half-mile away - would require the township to build bike paths or sidewalks from the school to the park so students safely could take the 15-minute walk there, Ms. Stoker said. "It's not so simple to say that because Beckett Park is owned by the township, it would be $2 million cheaper to locate the facility there," Ms. Stoker said.

"I don't know how much it would cost to build a good-size bike path from the high school to the park. You dramatically limit the use of the facility if children can't get to it after school."

Schumacher Dugan also owns land under contract with a Georgia firm for an open-air mall adjacent to the 18-acre parcel that has yet to break ground because it doesn't have enough tenants.

Township administrators are meeting individually with trustees this week to talk over the study and to gauge where they think the center should go.

The issue is expected to be publicly discussed at the trustees' next meeting, Dec. 17, or in January, Ms. Stoker said.

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com.