What clubs and groups plan to use the new St. James Community Center when it opens this fall?
That’s exactly the information the community center board of directors is looking for from St. James residents.
There is already an event scheduled at the St. James Community Center for October 4, and other groups in the area have been asking to schedule events this fall and winter.
“We have had a lot of outside people showing an interest…but we want to try to accommodate everyone,” Jim Devine said during the regular town council meeting Tuesday afternoon. Devine heads the community center board of directors.
Even if an event is booked in the large banquet room, Devine said, there is enough flexibility in scheduling that other groups could still use smaller rooms. But the board needs to hear from those groups with what dates they normally meet, if they’ll need to use the kitchen or if their bringing their own food and similar details.
Devine also said the town will hire a full time manager for the community center, but wants to hear from residents who might
See St. James, page 15A
want to help staff the building as well.
“We also see a role for volunteers,” Devine said.
Residents can contact Devine or other community center board members.
“We’re trying to get some enthusiasm, some input from the community,” he said.
As far as costs, Devine said the board would give council a fee schedule for review at the work session later this month, but that St. James groups would not be charged for using meeting rooms.
Construction is progressing, town project manager Walt Madsen said, and the community center and town hall are under budget and on schedule, though he acknowledged that the schedule is getting tighter.
The town hall in particular got between three to four weeks behind; weather has delayed some of the construction. But the contract calls for a September 13 completion date, and that is still within reach, Madsen said.
Access road
In other business, council also discussed the town’s work to get an access road out to the western Oak Island bridge corridor so residents south of Polly Gully bridge will have a way out if that bridge floods.
Mayor Bob Morrow, who is one of those residents south of the Polly Gully bridge, said he and council member Bruce Maxwell would meet this week with N.C. Department of Transportation division engineer Allen Pope. The town has to meet with state and federal environmental and transportation agencies for permission to put an access road to the bridge corridor, and Pope will facilitate that meeting, Morrow said.
St. James asked for support from the Town of Oak Island for the project. But after Oak Island council members said they wanted more information before weighing in on the request, Maxwell said he’s met with that town’s manager, Jerry Walters. He has also been meeting with Oak Island council members individually.
Approximately 800 feet of the access road would be in the Town of Oak Island jurisdiction, Maxwell said, so that town’s support would be “helpful and very much desired” if not absolutely necessary.
“I’m trying to present our case in a positive manner and we’ll take it from there,” he said.
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