A SECOND YMCA IN THE WORKS.

Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

The YMCA wants to build a second recreation center in Eugene-Springfield, and Bethel is the destination.

The organization and the Bethel School District will work with the community in the coming months to identify what people want in the 60,000-square-foot building and where it would go, YMCA Executive Director Dave Perez said Wednesday. Construction would follow as soon as 2008.

The YMCA has considered expanding its 49-year-old south Eugene center off Patterson Street for about a year. The agency plans to redevelop that building while tapping into the surge of young families to Bethel with another center.

Both the YMCA and Bethel are booming: The YMCA has doubled memberships in the past seven years to 6,000-plus, leaving the current building near capacity; the 5,700-student Bethel School District, meanwhile, has nearly doubled in 15 years with "no end in sight," district spokesman Craig Hawkins said.

It's Bethel's decision whether to move forward, Perez said, but residents seem eager to cooperate, especially with the absence of a major recreational facility there.

"The attitude of the people that live and work out there is very much, `What can we do to make this happen?' ' Perez said.

A 12- to 18-person steering committee will be formed with community members and officials from the school district and the YMCA.

The necessary programs and a site should be identified by the end of the year. The project could be built in phases, at a cost of $6 million to $8 million, Perez said. A capital campaign could fund all or part of that, with the YMCA taking a mortgage out on the balance.

The school district hopes to see the center built at the southeast corner of Barger Drive and Legacy Street on seven district-owned acres south of Meadow View School.

The site is too small for a school but perfect for a YMCA, Hawkins said, because of easy access and close proximity to affordable housing for young families and manufactured homes that appeal to the 55-and-over crowd.

Almost half of YMCA's members are under 21, Perez said. At the other end of the spectrum, there is growth in the 60-plus population, which accounts for about 18 percent of its members.

Perez said the school district's site meets the YMCA's needs, although the final decision on location will fall to the steering committee.

Hawkins credited the city of Eugene for bringing the district and the YMCA together for after-school and summer programs, and he called the prospect of a new center in Bethel "the next step."

The school board is "incredibly enthusiastic" about the project, Hawkins said.

"Folks feel we're a little underserved in some ways," he said. "A recreation center or a community center that allows folks to work out as families, to have activities and youth programs ... are really needed in this part of town."

YMCA GROWING

What: The YMCA plans a 60,000- to 70,000-square-foot facility, similar in size to the current building on Patterson Street. It could include a weight room for adults and children, child care, a teen center and community rooms, drama and music areas, a therapeutic aquatic component, night-school programs for adults, and an indoor field house for soccer, golf or baseball.

What's next: A steering committee will be formed in April. Community needs and an appropriate site should be identified by the end of the year and construction could start as early as 2008.

For more information: Call 686-9622

CAPTION(S):

Alan Holt, who attends Spring Creek Elementary School, relishes a post-swim shower at the Eugene YMCA. The facility is operating near its capacity, and the organization is now looking to build another YMCA in the Bethel area.