Envisioning Dayton

In just a few years, Dayton has grown from a rural town to the fastest-growing community in the fastest-growing county in the fastest-growing state in the United States.

Newcomers arrive expecting facilities that just aren't there - at least not yet.

"I get calls from new people who ask, 'Where's the park, where's the pool?'" said Michele Watkins, executive director of the Central Lyon Youth Connections and a founding member of the Dayton Community Center Task Force.

The task force has been meeting since July to mobilize resources toward construction of a multipurpose recreational and performing arts facility in Dayton Valley.

They hope to break ground in three years. The location is yet to be determined, but there are several options.

"There's a lot of (Bureau of Land Management) land, and the county supervisors are not opposed to helping (to secure a site)," said Rick Leach. The retired manufacturing industry manager and leader of the steering committee was among four of the five task force founders gathered recently in the kitchen of the community center to discuss the need and their vision for Dayton.

"It's not a lack of interest in providing land, it's a matter of deciding what's the best choice," he said.

"We're trying to make it centrally located," said Christy McGill, with the Healthy Community Coalition.

A tiny community center already exists, the Dayton Community Center housed in the original high school on Pike Street. The building is sufficient for a population of 2,000 - far fewer than the current estimated population of 15,000, which continues to climb.

But even the available space in the center for meetings, classes and special events is decreasing. Rooms have been commandeered for office space for expanding community services. Schools are also bursting at the seams, and the county library is inundated after school.

"Meeting places are at a premium," Watkins said.

Gary Lyon, executive director of the Community Business Resource Center, approaches the community's need from a business angle.

"Companies from all over the world could possibly move here," Lyon said, noting executives look at a community's quality of life when deciding where to relocate. "We've absolutely got to have infrastructure, the foundations for a growing community."

One of the Dayton Community Center Task Force's first tasks was a survey of residents, passed out at special events. They received 250 responses. Ninety-three percent of respondents want to see a community center. Results also show significant interest in a list of facilities, including a swimming pool, meeting rooms and an auditorium.

The task force has grown to include 30 to 40 volunteers who meet the first Thursday of each month at the old community center. A core of 10 people serve as the steering committee to direct various groups focused on specific aspects of the plan such as fund-raising, site location and design.

"We don't look at ourselves as leaders or chairs," Leach said.

"We're facilitators," added Ann Steinberg, owner of Desert Rose Chiropractic. "If we don't get together and take the bull by the horns, no one else is going to do that. We're facilitators to find people who can make this happen."

Finding people includes attracting professionals to volunteer and guide the group through the maze of community planning. Lawyers and architects are high on the wish list.

Paying for the facility could be more of an obstacle than finding a location, given the propensity of Nevadans in general - and Dayton-area residents even more so - to resist any form of tax increase.

"Opportunity doesn't come from not investing," Lyon said.

"We need to start the conversation, how are we going to have a healthy community," he added.

Such conversation has been a side-benefit to the task force, which has become an avenue to re-create the sense of community.

"Groups are coming together," Lyon said. "It's the power of networking and combining all our efforts. The power of community in creating something like this is that serious things begin to roll."

n Sally Taylor is night editor and Dayton reporter for the Nevada Appeal. Contact her at staylor@nevadaappeal.com or at 881-1210.

Survey

• 250 people responded to

surveys

distributed at

Dayton community events and

businesses

• 93 percent of respondents want to see the

construction of a community center

Percentage of people want the center to include:

• Swimming pool: 83 percent

• Gymnasium:

64 percent

• Auditorium:

64 percent

• Game room/ pool tables:

59 percent

• Art/activity rooms:

59 percent

• Exercise/weight room:

56 percent

• Meeting rooms:

56 percent

• Outdoor

recreation

and facilities:

56 percent

• Kitchen

facilities:

53 percent

• Computer/ tutoring room:

49 percent

To get involved

Call

Rick Leach at

246-4693

When

Meetings are at 6:30 p.m. the first Thursday of the month

Where

At the

Dayton Community Center on Pike Street

The next meeting is Thursday.