Mission Viejo : Spadework Under Way for Community Center

Ground was broken last week for a $1.3-million community center in Mission Viejo, the largest undertaking yet for the area’s fledgling Community Services District. The Oso Viejo Community Center, planned for completion next summer, is being built in the 35-acre Oso Viejo Park near Marguerite Parkway and La Paz Road.

Mission Viejo residents voted in 1985 to form their own Community Services District, which provides local control over such essential services as community parks, landscape maintenance and street lighting. Although the community of 65,000 remains under county jurisdiction, that may change Nov. 3 when residents vote on whether to become a city.

The first phase of the center--which will have an adminstration area, meeting rooms and a wing for senior citizens--will be the first publicly built facility under the services district, said Norm Murray, the president of the board of directors of the services district.

“Phase two will consist of a large auditorium and kitchen,” Murray noted. “We have put aside a million dollars for that part of the project already.”