ACTION ADVANCES YOUTH CENTER

Proponents of a city youth center cleared a major hurdle Wednesday when the planning and zoning commission unanimously granted a special exception to locate the facility on the lower level of Riverview Center.

Nearly 30 young people turned out for the public hearing on the special exception request for the center, which is to be sponsored by four local nonprofit organizations and operated with city funding.

Two 14-year-old city residents, both high school freshmen who belong to a group of students working on the youth center, addressed the commission.

“A youth center is important because we as youth will be able to come together and work as one,” said Angela Augeri, a student at Vinal Regional Vocational-Technical School. All students of all ethnic backgrounds, races and genders will be able to come together, she said.

Autie Perry, a Middletown High School student, said youths needed a place to go where they could think positively about learning and acquire new skills while having fun, too. Proposed programs at the youth center range from media production to a job center to arts classes to first-aid courses and baby-sitting training.

The 7,000-square-foot space is designed to hold up to 75 young people. Commissioner David Roane predicted the youth center may need more space given all the youths who turned out for the public hearing. Organizers said there is room for expansion at Riverview Center, but acknowledged that while this space may be the first home for the youth center, it might not be the permanent home.

Commission members granted the special exception after voicing concerns about where young people would be dropped off and picked up outside the center on Court Street; how persons with disabilities would gain access to the center, which will be located below grade off Court Street; and the location of a fence designed to close off a portion of a driveway leading in behind Riverview Center for youth activities. The same driveway would provide access to the rear of the new police station being built next door to Riverview Center.

Approval from the planning and zoning commission now opens the way for the Riverview Center space to be renovated for a youth center. Carl Rodenhizer, development director of The Connection Fund Inc., the nonprofit social service agency taking the lead in the project, estimated work on the new center should be complete by January and the center should open a month later.