2 Cities’ Councils Fund Joint Senior Center

Senior citizens living in and around Calabasas and Agoura Hills will finally get a place of their own.

The city councils of both communities recently agreed to allocate $90,000 each of 1997-98 federal Community Development Block Grant funds to establish a room in the new Community Center to accommodate senior programs, officials said.

Planners envision a 1,000- to 1,500-square-foot room where seniors can go to receive social services, to chat or play cards, and to fill a void that has been felt among many in both communities.

Although Agoura Hills offers programs for seniors at its recreation center, Audrey Brown, director of community services, said there were services that could not be offered.

“We have a lot of seniors in our city, and we have limited space in the Agoura Hills Recreation Center,” she said. “This gives us another opportunity to program on a regional basis and fulfill a need that’s not been [met] at the center.”

Even though Calabasas offered a few programs at its park facilities, it was sorely lacking in senior services, officials said.

“The feeling I’ve been getting is [seniors] would like to have a place they can call home,” said Greg Johnson, community services director for Calabasas. “They want a place people can go to meet and talk. I’ve never had the opportunity to do that for them until now.”

The Community Development Block Grant funds are allocated to cities to aid those of low or moderate incomes, and to assist in eliminating slum and blighted areas.

Under the criteria for the grant, seniors and disabled people are considered to be of low income, Brown said.

The center, to be located on 4.5 acres on Malibu Hills Road, will be a state-of-the-art, 28,000-square-foot facility with a gymnasium, weight room and health facilities, a dance room, locker rooms and showers.