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Proposed Bridgetown Community Center |
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The Bridgetown Board of directors would like to present our progress on the
new Community Center. We created a committee to look at what would
benefit our community the most. Let me give you a little background
that has brought us to this point. |
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In November 2007, we had an electrical fire in our Pavilion
at Sunset Park.
The Bridgetown fire department responded with a heroic effort to save the
structure. The fire started in the center and burned the center post
and the ends of the 2x12 beams. Basically the whole center of the
structure was destroyed. The Pavilion was built with rough cut lumber,
which is larger than dimensional lumber and very expensive and difficult to
find today. Upon investigation, the building could not be restored or rebuilt with the $20,000 recovered
from the insurance company. |
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The board created a committee to make proposals on replacing the pavilion.
There were several requirements that we asked the newly created committee to
meet. The main requirements were, that it had to be functional, it had
to fit in with other structures in our community, and it had to be
affordable. I think the new
committee has done an outstanding job. |
The Community Center Committee (CCC) is a large committee and includes board
members, officers, and members of the community. It also included
representatives that are retirees, family members, and a professional
builder/contractor. We believe that we have a good mix of Bridgetown
owners on the committee. The CCC committee chairman is Steve Powell -
(901) 786-8189. Please contact Steve with
comments or ideas that you feel will be helpful to the project. You can
also send a note the CCC at:
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Art work Donated by Walter
Brooksbank |
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Functional Requirements: The board wanted a building that would
provide our community with everything we had with the old Pavilion. We
need a shelter for Bridgetown functions such as the 4th of July celebration,
October Fest and our Christmas celebration. We need restrooms for
park, lake, and beach users. |
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In addition we spend money each month on rented storage space that is
inconvenient. We wanted to provide storage space within our community
that is accessible when we need it. |
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Our board of directors, committees and officers, need a place to work and
store records and office equipment. Presently, members store their own
records and do a good job in keeping track of everything. The problem
is we don't have a comprehensive permanent file that can be referenced when
needed. There is little continuity between the out going board and the
incoming board. We have included a small office to make sure we can do
a better job of managing our resources. |
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We
have included an outside area similar to the old pavilion
without the center restrooms. It is overlooking the
lake and will be lighted. One of our biggest
problems with the old pavilion was the wooden floor and
support structure. It was prone to rot and termites.
The new building will have a stained concrete floor
throughout. We plan to use lumber recovered from
the pavilion to build much of the new pavilion and the porch
that wraps around the front of the building. |
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The new building will have an area large enough to have the
monthly board meetings, with plenty of space for members to
attend. |
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We have a small office to
work on Bridgetown business and store our records.
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There is a small kitchen
large enough to warm food, prepare soft drinks, and wash dishes
for Bridgetown events. |
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In addition to the current Bridgetown events we wanted a
building that could be used as a center for other Community
functions such as a place to have, bible study groups,
exercise classes, or any number of organized gatherings of
our retired members. We also wanted a building that
could be reserved for celebrations such as Anniversaries,
Birthdays, Graduations, Receptions, and Family Reunions (No
Alcoholic Beverages will be allowed). |
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The structure will be
wheelchair accessible as will all four of the restrooms. Two will be accessible
from the inside and will only be open when the Community
Center is open. The other two will be open when the park and
beach is in use. |
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Must fit in other structures in our community -
There were a lot of ideas presented to the committee for
consideration. One of the most difficult tasks was to
design a building that would capture the look and feel of
the original pavilion structure. While the petition at
Bridgetown market is incorrect, we did discuss a metal
building. We wanted a building that was low
maintenance, but a metal building that would look nice and
fit in with the neighborhood would have cost three times as
much as the building proposed. We were never looking
at proposing an industrial type building. Most
everyone on the committee wanted to use as much of the
lumber from old pavilion as we could. |
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We have recovered much of the undamaged lumber from the old
pavilion and plan to reuse as much as possible to build the
outside part of the structure. The new building will
be a wooden structure with a cement floor. It will be
a rustic style and will be partially sided with rock or
brick. The rest of the siding will be a low
maintenance long lasting siding. The roof will be long
lasting laminated shingles. |
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Affordable: One of the primary concerns of the
Bridgetown members as well as the BCA board is: Can we pay
for the new building? The answer is yes we can, and
without asking for a special assessment. This was not
the best time for us to have a fire in the old pavilion and
to be faced with replacing it. The $20,000 insurance
money recovered was not enough to build a new structure. |
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I believe to replace the pavilion today the way it was built
35 years ago, would cost more than the community center that
the CCC is proposing. |
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We must be able to do the project without depleting our
emergency funds. The board did not want to use or
encumber our emergency CD's for this project.
It is our intent at this time to do the project in two phases.
As it stands today, phase one will start after the June
board meeting. |
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We have sufficient funds this year to get all of the
landscaping done, put the concrete in, complete the
exterior of the building, and finish the two bathrooms that
are accessed from the outside. During the first phase
we will have all of the exterior completed, all plumbing,
electrics and gas completed or roughed in. All
functionality of the old pavilion will be restored.
The outside building will be finished and look great. |
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The second phase will start as soon as we have the funds to
continue. We will have the necessary funds after January 1, 2009,
but we also hope that we will have additional volunteers and
donations to help offset the costs to Bridgetown. |