Community Center Plan Is Proposed

After waiting nearly 20 years for a permanent place to hold meetings and programs, residents near Anaheim Hills Golf Course may finally get a community center.

Chris Jarvi, community services director, unveiled a plan for the facility at a meeting this week of the Canyon Hills Community Council in Anaheim Hills.

As proposed, the center would be part of an $8.7-million, 34,000-square-foot community clubhouse. It would include banquet rooms, a mini-conference center, restaurant and bar, golf cart storage area and an 800-square-foot building for community use.

“We’ve been waiting for this for years,” said Sheila Harel, Canyon Hills Community Council chairwoman. “We need a place to meet.”

If the City Council approves the proposal in December, the community center still would not be completed until early 1999, Jarvi said. The first step would be to hire an architect and draw up detailed plans.

After that, a vendor would have to be selected to operate the facility and final development plans completed before the start of construction, projected to take a year.

Given the delay, resident Tony Siragusa expressed concern that the center might be too small. “It’s better than nothing,” he said, “but it might not be adequate to what the community’s need is in three years. . . . We might need a bigger facility.”

The city has only $700,000 available for the project, Jarvi said. The rest would be financed with bonds paid with revenue from the city’s two golf course operations and from the vendor selected to operate the facility, Jarvi said.