Spring 2004 Edition

Proposed Recreation Center     On the drawing boards. Last year, Fair Lawn's Borough Council decided to sell the old library building on River Road and replace the existing Recreation Center building near the high school. They reasoned that a new facility would allow the borough to consolidate staff resources and correct a host of deficiencies that existed in both facilities. George Frey, the borough's Superintendent of Recreation, told Fair Lawn News "The borough is hoping to demolish the old recreation center in June and complete the new facility by September 2005".   A new 40,000 square feet facility is now planned.  However, the money is not yet in place to pay for everything planned.  The Council is seeking corporate sponsors and state grants.  Fair Lawn Mayor David Ganz (who also serves on the county's legislature) is hoping for low interest loans from the county. The borough already received its down payment for the project. Last July, after a heated auction, they sold the River Road site (home to the Old Library Theater and Fair Lawn Arts Center) for $975,000. The architect hired by the borough, Allen Weitzman of the Ives Group, told Fair Lawn News that the new facility would have three floors including a partial cellar and second floor. The center would provide parking for approximately 55 cars. A dozen years ago, Weitzman's son (now 28 years old) regularly participated in programs at the recreation center. Frey said "many other towns have better recreational facilities than Fair Lawn, now.  It used to be others mirrored themselves after Fair Lawn. Now our facilities are considered out-dated and small."  The current proposal under consideration by the Council, includes the following: Theater:  The new theater would have 150 seats, sloped towards the stage.. It would also include a larger stage than the Old Library Theater as well as spaces for dressing, set creation and storage. Art Center:  Artists and would-be-artists "would be given better space to work and store their materials", Weitzman said.  Radio Club:  The club would have larger space with access to their antennae.  Both the radio club room and the radio equipment would be available to the Borough during emergencies. Gymnasium:  A new high school level gymnasium would be built. Weitzman says the "existing gym is substandard, since there is a narrow space between the out-of-bounds lines and the walls. With a new court, a kid going out of bounds won't immediately crash into a wall."   See last year's article on this topic.   Thanks to Jarvis Rodriguez for the photos.