CLIFTON – Keep an eye out for the next property tax bill as it will contain a survey asking residents if they would support the building of a new community recreation center.

The new facility would replace the existing recreation center the City owns in Downtown Clifton. Officials contend the brick building at 1232 Main Ave. is in disrepair and too small to accommodate the array of programs the Recreation Department now offers to a city of 80,000 people.

The idea behind the survey is to ask taxpayers if they would not only financially support a new facility but will also ask residents what types of amenities they would like to see included in the facility.

"It would be something that the community would have to support, so the survey would give a chance for the community to have input, so we know we are meeting their recreation and leisure time needs," said Recreation Director Debbie Oliver.

"We’ve never had a recreational center. We use the old post office, but it’s not a recreational center. Its something that is desperately needed for the quantity of programs that we run and the quality of programs we run too," she added.

The Recreation Center on Main Avenue was the prior location of Clifton’s Main Post Office before the post office moved to its current address at 266 Main Ave. The room that is available in the 70-year old building is used for various classes and programs and is purely "make-shift," Oliver said. There is no gym in the building.

Oliver said with a new facility, the Department could upgrade current programs and in addition, have more accessible space for recreation-sponsored athletic teams to practice and host more cultural events. Oliver said she also hopes to add more adult programs too, pending feedback from the surveys.

The concept of a community center to anchor recreation programs is not new to the City.

"The idea of the community center itself has been around for a long, long time," said Mayor James Anzaldi.

At one time, the City had considered transforming a barn on the City Hall property into a communal recreation center, before the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places for being the former U.S. Animal Quarantine Station, the Mayor said.

A few years ago, the Council considered purchasing the former Bellin’s pool on Main Avenue, but the cost of renovating the pool was "astronomical," he added. The Council also floated the option of turning the 2-acre plot of land that housed the pool, near the Passaic border, into a recreation center.

The Council is backing the surveys, maintaining that the decision should rest with taxpayers.

"Its not something I say no to," Anzaldi said. "Its something I say let us hear from the people and seek out the most equitable thing for taxpayer and those people who are going to use it."

Members discussed adding features like a swimming pool to the new center. "A seasonal swimming pool makes money. It’s a nice place to have birthday parties for kids, it’s something different," said Councilman Peter Eagler.

The concept is still in its early stages and a location for the building still has yet to be decided. The costs of the center would also have to be determined and Council members said the facility should be funded through open space and recreation grants.

"I have an open mind. And I have a lot of ideas about how you can create a better recreational place and it doesn’t always have to cost a lot of money," Anzaldi said. He added that fixing up an old building is also an option.

While the Main Avenue center is outdated and lacks space, it is very accessible since it is located along a bus route and brings people to that section of town, the Mayor said.

The City has plans for a new park on the former Athenia Steel property, behind the Senior Horizons apartment complex off Clifton Avenue. The plans include walking paths and ball fields for community use. Council members said the park should also be considered as a potential location for an indoor recreation center.

"If the community would support it financially, it would not be good to discard that site as an area," said Councilman Joe Cupoli.

The surveys will go out to each household in the next tax bill, which is due Nov. 1. Copies of the survey will also appear in local newspapers and on the City’s Web site, www.cliftonnj.org.