New Albany residents exploring options for a recreation center in the area are trying to dream big.

A group of local officials met Nov. 19 at New Albany Village Hall to determine how they should move forward with the idea. They ultimately decided to convene a small group of representatives from area stakeholders to figure out how an ideal recreation center would appear.

Mayor Nancy Ferguson and Plain Township trustee chairman Dave Ferguson led the meeting, attended by fellow trustee Don Shoemaker, village council member Steve Pleasnick and New Albany Parks & Recreation board member Ronnie Robinson, as well as staff representatives from both the local governments, parks and rec, the New Albany Co., the New Albany Community Foundation and the New Albany Walking Club.

A few interested residents also attended to share their views on a possible community recreation center.

"We had a great meeting last June, where we talked about what we perceive as the needs in our community and the need to get our arms around the issue," Nancy Ferguson said. "We talked about the possibility of hiring a consultant É to narrow down the issue and get us organized to figure out what kind of recreation center we want to build."

Since the most recent meeting, she said, interested community members have visited other local facilities and discussed options with both the local YMCA and a local developer that built a recreation center in Obetz.

"Another alternative has come up," Nancy Ferguson said. "The YMCA has come up. They have said if we would build the building, they would operate it at their cost. That is definitely worth exploring."

Those in attendance agreed that the first step in the exploration process is to figure out what kind of recreation facility the community wants.

They plan to do this by forming a core group to "dream" about what the perfect center would offer.

"We're here because of a dream," said Phil Heit, founder of the New Albany Walking Club and the New Albany Walking Classic event. "Why don't we just take the same path?"

He said this process would produce unrestricted, synergistic ideas.

The next step would be to consult the larger community, perhaps through a survey. First, though, the group plans to review a survey conducted about a year ago by New Albany Parks & Recreation.

Joe Stefanov, village administrator, said he agrees with Heit's idea and said he thinks New Albany has always been about thinking big.

"It may be a little easier to build something that is going to generate enough excitement to fund," he said. "If it's the same cookie-cutter thing, you may not get the same excitement. People might not have the desire to dig a little deeper into the checkbook."

He said he thought residents would respond better to well-considered ideas on a survey, and the core group must come up with those ideas before an official survey is conducted.

"My concern and my thought about this idea about a survey is, you run the risk of creating this very narrow focus," Stefanov said. "I don't know if you can adequately articulate this grand focus in this kind of survey. We want to gather the information that we need to decide that we need to move forward, but at the same time I don't think we want to narrow the questions too much."

Dave Ferguson said the first core group meeting would be held at 5 p.m. Dec. 17.

"I'd like to keep this moving," he said.

gmartineau@thisweeknews.com