The cost and placement of a planned community center were some of the reasons Standish councilors have decided against putting a more than $8 million proposal to a popular vote.

Residents will not vote on the proposal in November and the council is unlikely to discuss it again soon.

The councilors’ decision frustrated Community Center Development and Planning Committee member Larry Simpson, who has been working on various community center committees since the late 1990s. Four years ago the most recent committee was charged with developing a plan.

“I feel as though the people never had the opportunity to hear the pros and cons of this thing,” Simpson said Monday. “It just shouldn’t be outright killed.”

The community center proposal included plans for a 37,000-square-foot structure including a pool, weight and fitness room, gymnasium, all-purpose room, food pantry, kitchen and locker rooms.

The projected cost of the community center was approximately $8.67 million. If a construction bond had been approved, property taxes on a $250,000 home would have increased $112.50 for a 30-year bond or $140 for a 20-year bond.

Town Council Chairman Wayne Newbegin said he opposed the proposal and thus would not vote to send it to a referendum vote, adding that the council as a whole decided not to do much with the proposal at this time due to the cost.

“For a town of 9,700, that seems like an awful lot of money to spend on a community center,” Newbegin said. “I don’t like the piece of property. I’d hate to lose that area, and it could never be fully developed,” he added.

Newbegin did not cite particular criteria for deciding what to send to referendum and what not to send. “Maybe it’s just how you feel,” he said.

The council last discussed the proposal Sept. 9 and passed an order receiving the report and disbanding the committee. In order for the council to discuss the topic again, an order would have to be brought by a councilor, Newbegin said, adding that this was unlikely to happen soon.

“It’s up to the council to take action if we so choose,” Newbegin said.

Newbegin and Councilor Margaret Spencer both served on the Community Center Development and Planning Committee, thought they took different opinions of the project.

“I’m happy with the report. I’m happy with the findings,” Spencer said. “I just don’t think the timing was right.”

When the timing was right and the economy was better, Spencer said she thought the public should have a chance to assess the proposal.

“I realize the tightness of everyone’s budget,” Spencer said. “I didn’t fight to keep it alive.”

Also on the Community Center Development and Planning Committee, Janice Raymond said she didn’t understand why the council didn’t put the community center proposal on the November ballot.

“The people in Standish wanted it originally,” Raymond said. “To me it doesn’t make sense that the citizens of Standish don’t have a say.”

Raymond, who has been involved in planning for a community center for 7 or 8 years, said the plan would provide something unique in the area, and would be financially self-sustaining after three years.

“We already own the land. Yes, it’s going to cost more than $8 million over 20 years, but it’s not that much on your taxes,” Raymond said. “Obviously if we wait and build it later, it’s going to cost more.”

“I just don’t understand why the council wants to bury it,” Raymond said, adding that many people in town don’t even know the report was released. “We worked very hard on it. We worked a long time.”

Simpson contended that the town could afford the proposal and the site could still be used, despite needed mitigation for vernal pools and wetlands.

Some of the debate over the community center proposal has been centered around the suitability of the 8-acre site on Moody Road, which the town council ordered the committee to abandon in January. The committee, however, moved forward with a plan based on the Moody Road site.

“That site can be used through mitigation,” Simpson said. Mitigation would involve setting aside other land for conservation in exchange for developing the Moody Road site.

Newbegin said setting aside other town land would not be cost effective, adding that the Department of Environmental Protection and Army Corps of Engineers require many times more land mass for mitigation than the plot developed. Dedicating land for conservation would cost the town more money, Newbegin said.

“I’m trying to be frugal here,” Newbegin said.

Councilors will be assessing all town properties soon, Newbegin said, to determine what, if anything, they want to do with them.

“I think unless the public gets behind us somewhere, the community center is probably dead,” Simpson said.