City of Newburyport Seeks Community Input on Potential Youth Services Center Locations

NEWBURYPORT — Mayor Donna D. Holaday and Director of Youth Services Andrea Egmont are asking members of the community for their input on potential locations for a Youth Services Center.

The City of Newburyport is seeking a location to house the Youth Services Department permanently, and is looking for a site that would offer 6,000-8,000 square feet of programming and administrative space, and preferably parking and outdoor play space. The site would ideally also offer 4,000-5,0000 square feet for a gymnasium. 

Members of the community are encouraged to take the survey by clicking here by Friday, May 28. 

“This is an exciting opportunity for the community to help us find the perfect home for the Youth Services Department, and we encourage anyone who has an idea about a potential location to share their insights through our survey,” Director Egmont said. “It’s our hope this facility will be a tremendous asset to the young people in our city and a source of joy, connection and growth for many years to come.”

At this time, no clear location that suits the ideal specifications for the site has been identified, and the city has launched a community survey seeking public input. The city is interested in exploring options that could include acquiring land or real estate as well. 

“This is an exciting opportunity for us to select a site for the Youth Services Department that will become an integral part of our community. It’s essential that we identify a location that will suit the department’s programs, services and initiatives, and so we are hopeful that this survey will shed light on additional locations that can be considered moving forward,” Mayor Holaday said. “This is going to be a true community effort and we look forward to taking this next step for this project.”

The survey asks members of the community to select from a list of potential sites or to share any other locations that they believe would be a great fit for the Youth Services Center. There are 23 locations already being considered including the Brown and Nock-Molin Schools, various parks, Hope Church, Cooper Field, Woodman Farm, Port Plaza, the business park, the Bresnahan/Senior Community Center and others. 

The city is also forming a Youth Services Center Site Selection Committee which includes Director Egmont, Associate Director of Youth Programs Lee Gordon, City Councilor Byron Lane, and members of the community including youth representatives. It is expected the committee will hold its first meeting later this month. The meeting date and details will be posted when available on the city’s website.

At the first meeting the committee will review the list of spaces currently being considered, and will work moving forward to score and assess the possible locations for the Youth Services Center. The committee will examine the sites based on needs of the Youth Services Department as well as other pertinent concerns such as environmental and neighborhood impact and cost. 

Eventually the committee will tour the top locations with Mayor Holaday and Youth Services Feasibility Planning Director Andy Port. Following the tours, the city will present the top sites to the public. 

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