AUBURN — The public will get its first look next week at a proposed 93-acre YMCA outdoor recreation complex off Center Street, complete with hiking and biking trails and athletic fields.
Steve Wallace, chief executive officer of the Auburn-Lewiston YMCA, said work could begin this summer converting 93 acres at the corner of River and Stetson roads into an outdoor recreation spot.
“We kind of describe it as a mix between Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary and the Back Bay area down in Portland,” he said. “There will be trails, there will be outside fitness equipment and what we are looking at is having a sunrise to sunset outdoor learning and education center.”
The group has scheduled a public meeting to review a site master plan at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 6, in the YMCA’s third floor meeting space at 62 Turner St. The meeting is open to the public.
“We want to say, ‘This is what we are thinking. What do you all think?'” Wallace said.
The YMCA purchased the Stetson Road property in 2011 with plans to move its entire operation there. It changed direction in February, opting to build an aquatics and fitness center with room for 5,000 members in Lewiston’s Bates Mill No. 5.
Wallace said the Bates Mill plan is still in the works, but now the group hopes to move forward with the Stetson Road property. The property includes trees and fields along Stetson and North River roads between the Androscoggin River and Route 4 in Auburn.
“It’s a departure for us,” he said. “The Y will be in Bates Mill No. 5 and out on those 93 acres, so it’s about how we impact the community, not just about having a place to build a building.”
The Maine National Guard would begin work this July, constructing a parking area and athletic trails along the property.
“We would literally buy the materials that they need, and then they would build what we need,” Wallace said.
Later, work could include locating the YMCA’s summer camp on the property. The local YMCA operates Camp Connor, a children’s summer camp on Range Pond in Poland. Current plans call for selling Camp Connor, relocating it to Auburn and expanding it.
“The goal is to have 200 to 250 kids there per week, about 100 more than we can do now,” he said. “Our goal would be to grow that to 400 kids. That’s a different kind of a commitment we can do for the community.”
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