The Anacortes Chamber of Commerce fears taxpayers are going to be footing the bill to run a community center if it is built in Anacortes. It’s also concerned about who will manage such a facility and if it will be managed properly.

In response to a local community group’s effort to start the dialogue and perhaps the planning on a community center, Chamber President Robin Pestarino spoke to the Port of Anacortes commission on behalf of the executive board.

Pestarino said the chamber is not against a community center, but said it should be developed with private funds rather than public, which the community group DASH is suggesting.

DASH member Bev Martin told the commissioners the group wants the port to consider plans for a community center in conjunction with the marine technology skills center planned for the port’s 6-acre property in the south basin of the Cap Sante Boat Haven.

The Skagit County Technical Skills Center leaders’ schematic for the school has two key elements the DASH group is looking at — one, an assembly hall initially large enough to accommodate 150 people, and two, room for future expansion.

DASH members have already discussed expanding the facility with Anacortes School District Superintendent Chris Borgen, architect Bryan Young and port Executive Director Bob Hyde, all of whom are working on the development of the skills center.

DASH recognizes the skills center’s building funds are limited as well as the port’s resources and is offering to help with fundraising, community input, energy and passion, Martin said. It would be much in the same way as was done for the recent Our Town Our Park project that built a playground at Storvik Park with donated funds and volunteer labor.

“The point being, that once this community unites and decides to get behind a cause, they make it happen,” Martin said.

The question coming from the chamber seems to be then what?

The chamber is concerned the center will be built and maintained and operated with taxpayer money, Pestarino said.

The chamber is calling the proposal a community center rather than a conference center in agreement with how the DASH group is presenting it, Pestarino said.

But in either case, the chamber would rather a private party, such as MJB Properties, come forward to develop such a facility in conjunction with a hotel to accommodate the people using it and provide the staff to operate it.

Pestarino spoke of a recent trip to the Spokane Convention Center where the employees expressed concern over the publicly run facility staying busy and thus retaining their jobs. Pestarino emphasized that it was employees, not management, she talked to.

But she said the same concerns are being expressed across the country in regards to conference centers, not necessarily because of the lagging economy but because companies are doing more with telecommunications and using their resources elsewhere.

However, Pestarino added if the port becomes the lead agency in developing a community center, finding such a plan to be feasible, the chamber would of course get behind the endeavor.

But at this stage of the planning, the chamber board wants to say it would rather see a private entity come in with the project.

“We always prefer private money over public money,” she said.

Martin explained the goals of the DASH Group are to network, learn from each other and explore ways to give back to the community. The name DASH comes from the dash between the date a person is born and the date of his or her death, and the importance of how that time is spent.

“Our first priority regarding the community was to support a community center,” Martin said.

It doesn’t intend to tackle the job itself, but wants to partner with the port, city, community at large and other stakeholders, she said.

DASH is circulating a survey asking the community to share its thoughts on a community center and expects to present the results to the port commissioners in a few weeks.

Additional steps the group intends to take include evaluating the current and potential demand for a facility, deciding if it makes financial sense to operate one and determining if the construction of a larger facility would jeopardize the skills center in any way.