The city may be seeing a community center in the future.

At the Nov. 13 City Council meeting City Administrator Mike Thomas presented the beginning discussions the administration has had concerning a community center.

According to Thomas, Village Concepts, a Federal Way developer, approached the city with a proposal to build senior apartment housing on the two acres owned by the city behind the Enumclaw Library.

The preliminary discussion was for a land-lease agreement for the property to build the housing. For the lease agreement, the developer would build a 9,000 square foot community center for the city.

“What we are looking at is a great opportunity,” Thomas said.

Thomas noted the demographics of Enumclaw is the population is aging and providing senior housing has been difficult. This proposal could partly address this issue.

Village Concepts built the Covington Place senior apartment and High Point Village in Enumclaw.

Councilman Mike Ennis asked what the catch was, why would the developer be willing to build the community center at no cost to the city.

City Attorney Mike Reynolds said, “I think it would be an amenity to their project, which would then be a marketing devise for them to market their units.

Reynolds added the reason the builders would not simply build their own community center is because the city owns the property and it is a favorable location.

The city attorney said a request for proposal will be sent out by the city to make certain the tax payers are getting the best deal.