Grant seen as crucial to Medway rec center plans

MEDWAY – A special town meeting will be held Monday to determine whether the town will apply for a $350,000 grant to help create a recreation and community center at the Roy Powers Recreational Area on Route 157, town officials said Tuesday.

To qualify for the state Community Development Block Grant fund money, Medway would have to issue as much as $87,500 in matching bonds or funds – and neither amount would necessarily be enough to fund the center’s construction, town Administrative Assistant Kathy Lee said.

“You are still looking at a few years before this could happen,” Lee said. “I don’t think this will happen overnight.”

But the grant money is crucial to center plans, and the recreation center building – the Katahdin and Lincoln Lakes regions’ first – is needed, Lee said.

Home to baseball and softball fields, tennis and basketball courts, the 17-acre Penobscot River-side recreation area has only a small cement building with restrooms that fail to comply with federal Americans With Disabilities Act requirements.

Under tentative town plans designed by D & S Engineering of Millinocket, the new center would cost as much as $1.5 million and would feature two meeting rooms, Recreation Department offices, a commercial kitchen, restroom and changing rooms and several storage areas. No construction timeline has been set.

Besides serving recreation and community needs, the center also would give the town its own meeting space for meetings and other large events, which it lacks, Lee said. Medway Middle School and the Disabled American Veterans hall are used for large public hearings and other events.

Like Medway, East Millinocket and Millinocket have recreation offices and fields, the largest at Stearns High School in Millinocket, but no dedicated recreation center. Lincoln is raising money to build a center, but Lincoln’s plans are much more elaborate, containing gymnasiums, a stage, weight rooms and other amenities.

The Board of Selectmen held a hearing on the proposal on Monday night, with about 25 people attending, Lee said.

The town meeting will be held at the town office at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 14.

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