Walnutport approves resolution for Northern Lehigh Community Center

Walnutport has taken the next step in its continued attempts to move forward with the Northern Lehigh Community Center.

On a unanimous measure, borough council on Thursday approved a resolution for the agreement for the community center.

Before council’s vote, Councilwoman Patrice Hunsicker noted that both Slatington and Washington Township are on board.

Borough Mayor Wayne Weidner said he was a proponent of the community center.

“I think it’s a really good idea we get involved,” Weidner said. “It’s going to keep people off the streets, I think.”

After the meeting, Hunsicker, who serves as president of the recreation authority, explained the significance of the resolution.

“In order to move forward with the project, there needs to be a resolution in place for each individual municipality stating that they are committing financially toward the project,” Hunsicker said.

The community center is estimated to cost $4.2 million.

In April, council on a 6-1 vote, with council President William Turk opposed, agreed to pledge its financial support toward the community center after it approved Option 1 of the business plan.

That option calls for the borough’s contribution to the Northern Lehigh Recreation Authority to be $15,525 in 2020, $25,875 in 2025, and results in a median contribution of $21,563.

Slatington’s contributions would be $31,740 in 2020 and $52,900 in 2025, for a median contribution of $44,083. Washington Township’s would be $49,999 in 2020, and $83,325 in 2025, for a median contribution of $69,439.

The option also calls for keeping the Northern Lehigh Recreation as is, with a multi-municipal partnership among the three municipalities, and includes the construction and operation of the new community center facility.

This option also includes hiring a part-time bookkeeper in 2020, and a part-time Recreation Supervisor once the center is in operation in 2023.

At that time, Hunsicker noted that all grants the borough has received are still in place, and that the recreation authority still has many events going on for which it is always looking for volunteers.

In February, the final in a series of feasibility study meetings for the 16,000-square-foot community center at 545 W. Church St. in Slatington was held.

The community center has been in the works for about 20 years.

In August, the Northern Lehigh Recreation Authority engaged Kimmel Bogrette Architecture + Site (KBA+S), and their consultant, Ballard*King (B*K), to complete a feasibility study for a new center.

The site currently contains about a 9,600-square-foot building shell that was completed in 2010. No other work has been completed to date at the 3.1-acre site.

From the late 1990s through the early 2000s, a group of volunteers raised more than $600,000 to purchase land and garner support, which allowed them to construct the shell of the community center facility in 2012.

Since then, the group of volunteers has turned to the local municipalities for assistance.

The Northern Lehigh Recreation Authority was formed in 2016 and consists of Slatington, Walnutport and Washington Township, with a mission to complete the facility.

For more information on the community center, visit www.nlcommunitycenter.com.