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Youth-club offer raises questions

City officials have concerns about maintenance costs, club's athletic programs and how project will fit with recreation center.

By ELIZABETH PEZZULLO

Date published: 6/11/2004

By ELIZABETH PEZZULLO

Plans for Fredericksburg's Dixon Street Recreational Complex have been in the works for the past 15 years.

And since last March, the city has finally moved from blueprints to backhoes.

But soon, Parks and Recreation Department officials may find themselves virtually back at square one.

On Tuesday, Fredericksburg resident Doris Buffett offered $2.5 million through her Sunshine Lady Foundation for a Boys & Girls Club. She said she wants it built next to a planned community center within the recreational complex.

Under the proposal, the city would own the building, which would be leased for $1 a year to the club for area youth.

Buffett's foundation has established Boys & Girls Clubs in the Carolinas, and many of her charities are geared toward young people.

Boys & Girls Club board member Xavier Richardson, Senior Branch Director Forrest Parker, and Buffett's son-in-law, Mark Haymes, made the proposal to the City Council.

The emissaries then turned up the heat by insisting that the council decide by the end of the month whether to accept the gift, or risk losing it.

"I think this is a wonderful gesture," said City Councilman Joe Wilson. "But I have a bit of a problem being told if you don't act immediately, we'll take the gift elsewhere."

Wilson added that details need to be worked through before the city lurches ahead with the project.

"I think if the building is built and the city is taking care of it, and doing the maintenance, yet providing it to the Boys & Girls Club for a dollar a year, than the city is pretty much taking on full responsibility."

Other issues to be decided include whether the club will run its own athletic programs or mesh with the city's offerings.

"The complex was planned over a period of years and up to now is proceeding as planned," said George Solley, a member of the city Parks and Recreation Commission. "Now we have to see how we can work that facility into the existing plans with minimum adverse effect on the [complex]."

There's also the question of how the two buildings will fit on the four-acre site.

"Lots of variables haven't been worked out," said Robert Antozzi, director of the Parks and Recreation Department. "Significant changes would need to be made to the community center location to accommodate the Boys & Girls Club."

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Date published: 6/11/2004