LAGUNA NIGUEL : Sea Country Center Gets Dedicated Today

The Sea Country Senior and Community Center, which has been on the city’s “to-do” list since incorporation in 1989, will be dedicated today

The dedication, with speeches by city leaders and a traditional blessing by a Juaneno Indian, will take place at 10 a.m. The public is invited to tour the 14,000-square-foot building at 24602 Aliso Creek Road until 3 p.m.

The Capistrano Valley Symphony will provide background music, and square dancers and ballroom dancers will demonstrate their skills in the center’s ballroom during the event.

Exercise classes, sewing groups, and card-playing circles that have been meeting at the Senior Center on La Paz Road will now meet at the new Senior and Community Center.

The facility also has areas for shuffleboard and boccie ball.

The city spent about $3.3 million building the center, said Ken Montgomery, the city public works director. Another $275,000 will be needed annually to operate the center.

About 20% of that, Montgomery said, should be gathered from renting the building for private events such as wedding receptions and birthday parties.

“This is the most important capital improvement project the city has ever undertaken and probably ever will undertake,” Montgomery said. “It’s a big milestone in the city’s history. We’re excited about having the facility.”