Cerritos : 4 Possible Sites Considered for Proposed Senior Center

A site for the city’s proposed senior citizen center will be discussed by the Cerritos City Council at its Jan. 17 meeting.

A study by the Parks and Recreation Commission reiterated what older residents have been saying about the need for a center, so the council last month agreed to build a facility. The council has not agreed on where to locate it.

Some seniors and city officials are eyeing Pat Nixon Park, saying it is under-utilized and could easily accommodate a senior gathering place. However, three other locations are also being seriously considered.

One site with support from some council members is in Cerritos Regional Park, which is owned by Los Angeles County. Other sites are a vacant area north of Whitney High School that belongs to the ABC Unified School District, and a small patch of land behind City Hall and the library. That site is owned by the city.

“Right now it’s just determining the site and then we’ll go with programming once we see how much land we have,” Councilman Paul W. Bowlen said.

No cost estimates have been drawn up yet for the senior center but money appears to be less of a problem than location. The city will fund construction of the center with profits from its extensive redevelopment projects, Bowlen said.