Creation Of A Fairfax Community Center

[Henry]

Hi folks! I hope your New Year is going well.
 
As promised, I'm coordinating a get-together of Fairfax people who are interested in the creation of a Fairfax Community Center. The purpose of the meeting is to get a clearer picture of where we're at (in terms of needs, ideas, resources, etc.) and how we can move forward. I suggest the following agenda:

1.  "Brainstorm" any and all ideas about what functions we would like to see a community center serve.
2.  Talk about the needs behind the various possible functions.
3.  Arrive at a (tentative and rough) prioritization of the possible functions.
4.  Brainstorm and discuss ideas, challenges, and resources that relate to "making it happen."
5.  Decide on the best next step.

I think of this group as the "getting something going" committee. No one needs to commit to working on an ongoing project. We're just trying to light the fuse. As such groups always are, it is a small number of people; so I hope you all will do your best to attend this one meeting and will forward this message to anyone else you can think of who might be interested.
 
I suggest we try for sometime during the last two weeks of the month (Monday, January 14 through Sat, the 26th). If we choose a Mon-Fri, it probably needs to be sometime between 6:30 to 9:00 PM. Please reply to let me know which dates and times within that window do or don't work for you; and I'll get back with a final plan.
 
Mark Hunziker <mark@vtwellness.net>

[MikeF9]

I may be jumping the gun a little.
By a "Community Center", are you talking about a building with some rooms for meetings, or are you talking about room for maybe a stage or auditorium so plays and concerts may be performed?
I will let my sister, who is involved with the Fairfax Community Theatre, know about what you are trying to do.
I applaud you for what you are trying to do. We really need something outside of the school for Community events. It's getting to the point where you have to jump through so many hoops to use the school nowadays.
I just have always felt that this town would never go with a full blown Community Center. I could be wrong.

[logical]

I think that the creation of a Fairfax Community Center would be great.  I've noticed recently that there are scheduled exercise classes (Pilates, Yoga, Boot Camp) in Fairfax.  But the locations never seem to be consistently the same.  It would be nice to be able to go to one community space for such events.

[Mummy]

We should all keep in mind to begin with the end insight!  Things to consider immediately....

Can we afford a Community Center?
 Can we afford to maintain this Community Center? 
  How many of us think our TAXES are too low here in Fairfax? FYI, the price of gasoline last year was a lot less than the price of gasoline this year and our Town Budget will reflect this change in gasoline come this July 2008.

 These are just a few thoughts that truely need to be thought of BEFORE to much longer.   Just thinking ahead!

[KC JC]

I would love to be involved with this brainstorming session.  I am available M/W Eve's as well as Sat/Sun. 

A current copy of the Zoning reg's should be brought to the discussion.  As a Main Street property owner, I know that one main obstacle is change of use to commercial from residential.  I know location is at the bottom of any discussion list.  I feel it may be nice to know what the Town reg's are when discussing challenges and possibilities.

[Mark Hunziker]

Based on the responses I got regarding people's schedules, we will hold the Community Center brainstorming meeting from 7:00 to 9:00 PM, a week from Monday, January 21. It will be at my home: 234 River Road, Fairfax (next to Fairfax Auto's driveway and sign). Please email me at mark@vtwellness.net if you plan to attend.

We can modify the agenda, if needed, when we get together; but at this point I have proposed that we: 
1.  "Brainstorm" any and all ideas about what functions we would like to see a community center serve.
2.  Talk about the needs behind the various possible functions.
3.  Arrive at a (tentative and rough) prioritization of the possible functions.
4.  Brainstorm and discuss ideas, challenges, and resources that relate to "making it happen."
5.  Decide on the best next step.

Responses to my original posting have included ideas on what a "communtiy center" might mean and include (space for theater, classes, etc.) and concerns about the cost. My response is that discussing what it could and should include is exactly the purpose of the meeting. Costs and how to deal with them will obviously need to be addressed; but we can't talk about costs until we first answer "Costs of what?"

When someone designs a new home, they start by imagining what their "dream home" would have: –a workshop? –a big kitchen? –a kids' play room? THEN they investigate costs of the various pieces and financing options. Eventually they pare it down to a do-able project. And because they started from the "dream" version, the final home will reflect what they most need and desire. It might have only a modest play room; but built so that the kitchen can be expanded into it when the kids are grown up, and a shop can easily be added on when and if they can afford it). On the 21st we'll dive into Step One of such a process; and we should also get a good idea from attendence and enthusiasm about whether the idea "has legs" to move forward from there.