By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Operators of a fitness club chain and some township residents want voters to get to decide what type of community center, if any, should be built in this fast-growing Butler County suburb.

Since late last week, petitions have been available at Fitworks Fitness & Sports Therapy off Tylersville Road to force West Chester's center onto the ballot. Petitions also are already at 18 other businesses or soon will be.

West Chester officials have not asked voters to pony up money for the center in the form of a levy, but members likely would pay fees.

Fitworks officials, however, say the public doesn't have enough information about the center and deserves the right to vote on the issue. "As a citizen I don't like the way this should be handled and from a business standpoint, I don't think that government should compete against private industry," said Randy Stanifer, Fitworks area director and a West Chester resident.

"If it's put to a vote and it's passed, I am not against it if the citizens of West Chester approve the thing," he continued. "The way it is right now, they don't have to be informed. My God, two or three people show up at trustee meetings. Everything is so vague right now and most people I have spoken with have no information."

So far, the response to the petitions has been "overwhelming," in favor of a vote, Stanifer added.

To place the West Chester issue on the November ballot, the signatures of 10 percent of the number of voters who participated in the last gubernatorial race - 1,546 signatures - would be required by Aug. 21, according to the Butler County Board of Elections.

Township officials and residents had split reactions Tuesday. Some were indifferent, predicting that so many residents want the community center it widely would be supported.

Others, including Trustee Jose Alvarez, attacked the effort - particularly Fitworks for spearheading it. "They want to control an industry in an area," Alvarez said. "They want no competition when, in fact, a community center doesn't compete with that crowd. We have different services and different needs. It will be family-oriented."

Last year, Fitworks helped defeat a similar issue on the ballot in Forest Park, where voters overwhelmingly rejected a higher earnings tax to build a $13 million community center, Stanifer acknowledged Tuesday. And last fall, Sycamore Township voters also rejected a 1-mill levy to finance a $14 million center's operating costs.

Fitworks officials have attended West Chester trustee meetings to protest and question the center.

"It is of some concern to us because we would be in direct competition," John Janszen, Fitworks executive vice president and chief operating officer, told trustees at a January meeting. "We are looking at an expansion project in this township, but that is on hold."

West Chester's proposed center, which has ranged in potential costs from $30 million to $20 million back to $30 million, would be 110,000 square feet and offer a variety of amenities such as indoor and outdoor pools and jogging tracks. It could break ground as early as this year and likely would go on 211/2-acres at the southeast corner of Union Centre Boulevard and West Chester Road that would cost the township $2.5 million.

"The children need some place to go," Yatta Chambers, 28, said as she waited with her two small boys for her car to be serviced at Firestone adjacent to Fitworks. "Because of all the growth in West Chester, you need some place for families. We can't all go to Fitworks."

But other residents say there are uncertainties about the center and a public vote is best. Some question building the facility on land that would cost the township money instead of placing it on property the township already owns at the 150-acre Beckett Park.

"We don't want to stop it," said Nyla Kramer, who expects to have petitions by today at her flower shop in Olde West Chester. "We want it to go, but we want to give the people a choice as to where they would like to have it."

E-mail: jedwards@enquirer.com.