‘Tsunami’ of Old Folks

The future of the new Kent Senior Center planned for Ludingtonville Road near the Putnam-Dutchess County line is in jeopardy now that significant funding from New York State may be lost.

Putnam County received a Community Development Block Grant totaling $600,000 to partially fund the construction of the new $8 million senior recreational center in Kent.

Legislature Chairman Vincent Tamagna told the Courier Tuesday evening since the legislature “took a stand to freeze any and all spending for the center due to the uncertain economy, we have decided to halt all work on the project.”

The state grant expired last spring and according to former Legislature Chairman Tony Hay “in order to have it extended, the county committed to fund the balance of the project by issuing bonds totaling $600,000 for preliminary construction costs.”

A sanitary system and geothermal wells have been installed but lawmakers decided to delay any additional site work such as placing a foundation on the property.

Legislator Richard Othmer of Kent said since the property in Kent has been surveyed “Putnam County owns an engineered piece of land that can be sold if necessary. Taxpayer dollars were not wasted.”

Othmer expressed reservations over the size of the proposed center: “Why do we need such a grandiose building? I want to see a facility constructed in Kent for our senior citizens, but do we really need a 20,000-square-foot center?”

Othmer has suggested taking the blueprint from the Putnam Valley Senior Center and “constructing a duplicate. Kent needs the commerce that will be created by the construction of a new center. A center must come to Kent, but I really don’t believe the county needs such a gigantic structure on this very tight site. An educated vote cannot be made until the legislature receives a space analysis.”

About the grant, Othmer said he and his colleagues would not vote to “save the $600,000 grant, then turn around and expend $8 million of taxpayer dollars. It doesn’t make sense.”

County Executive Robert Bondi is in favor of the construction since “more than 300 seniors will have a new facility offering comprehensive services ranging from a nutrition and wellness programs to adult day care for the frail elderly as well as opportunities for socialization— services that will allow our treasured elderly and baby boomers to remain in their homes in the community they love.”

Putnam Office for the Aging Director William Huestis predicted that the “aging tsunami is coming and Putnam County must be ready to meet the needs of the ever increasing senior population. We are now one step closer to achieving our vision—to have a senior center in each township to help our older Americans stay where they belong—in their community.”

Marsha Karl, president of the Kent Senior Citizens, forecasts that the center would eventually replace Putnam’s Office for the Aging facility at the Donald Smith Governmental Campus in Carmel, which has become extremely overcrowded due to increased use and the growing senior citizen population found throughout the county.