Council to Review Army Reserve Center Options

The City Council will hold a work session Monday night to discuss different possible future uses for the Paul A. Doble Army Reserve Center on Cottage Street.

Councilors will examine the various options for the property at City Hall at 6:30 p.m. Some councilors have indicated they favor turning the site into a new athletic field and others say the city should consider it for a new public safety complex for the city's police and fire departments.

The property was put on the federal Base Realignment and Closure list back in 2005.

In February, David Moore, who serves as the city's director of community development, said the city has already drawn up a plan to transform the current 14,000-square-foot facility on 121 Cottage St. into a new athletic field with bleachers and parking and a storage building. He said the city hopes to acquire the 3.5-acre property from the Department of the Army and then designate it as a park by working with the National Parks Service.

Earlier this year, officials with the American Legion Post Frank E. Booma Post 6 or Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 168 learned the Department of the Army would not allow them to use the Paul A. Doble facility.

is scheduled to be completed in March 2013 after the project broke ground in March 2012. Once completed, the $9.16 million facility being constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be the new home for 49 soldiers with Detachment 2, A Company, of the 399^th Combat Support Hospital and 38 soldiers with the 378^th Minimum Care Detachment.