By John Kiesewetter
Enquirer staff writer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Trustees will vote Tuesday, and residents will find out in a month if they will get to vote on the proposed West Chester Community and Recreation Center.

The three trustees said separately that they plan to approve the $33 million recreation center at their 7 p.m. Tuesday meeting.

Opponents of the Union Centre facility say they will begin circulating referendum petitions Thursday to place the issue on the Nov. 2 ballot. They have organized as Let Us Vote West Chester, or LUV West Chester.

"When you spend $33 million in public money, the public should get to vote on it," said Dan Wagner treasurer for the group.

Trustees will vote Tuesday so residents will have the 30 days required by law to circulate referendum petitions before the Aug. 19 deadline for the November ballot.

The signatures of 1,577 township voters must be gathered by Aug. 12, according to the Butler County Board of Elections. The elections office must validate the signatures.

"We'll know in 30 days if there are enough valid signatures to put it on the ballot. If that's what the people want, we respect their wishes, even though it could add significantly to the cost of the center," said Catherine Stoker, trustees president.

Tuesday's vote culminates a yearlong effort by trustees to determine the size, scope and financial feasibility of a recreation center, originally proposed in the township's 20-year "vision" master plan adopted in 1993. It would be on 18 acres at Union Centre Boulevard and West Chester Road, across from Lakota West High School.

The indoor part of the center would be slightly smaller than Mason's 158,380 square-foot center. West Chester would have an indoor leisure pool; competitive swimming pool; gymnasium; indoor field turf multipurpose room; fitness and aerobics area; two racquetball courts; meeting rooms; a "messy art" room; and a police substation. The resolution does not say whether the competitive pool will be 10 lanes, as requested by area swimmers' parents, or eight lanes.

The entire complex will be larger than Mason's with the attached 20,135 square-foot outdoor pool.

Money from Union Centre development - increased taxes paid on higher property values since the Interstate 75 interchange opened in 1997 - will cover the construction and property acquisition costs, trustees said.

Much of the trustees' discussion since January has been about whether the center could operate at a profit. Mason's center marked its one-year anniversary March 1 with a $585,000 deficit. Few recreation centers nationwide break even, said Molly McClure, Anderson Township parks director and president of the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association.

The Tuesday resolution says trustees are "confident that.... the proposed facility can and will be financially self-sufficient."

Stoker also said two funds will be established at the West Chester-Liberty Community Foundation for the center - one started by swimmers' parents to operate the competitive pool, and another by local philanthropists to cover start-up expenses, operating losses and subsidies to families who can't afford memberships.

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com