With a site acquired and an architect selected, North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman joined with town Councilman Robert Troiano last week to unveil the initial planning stages for the New Cassel community center. Some 50 residents attended a meeting June 24 at which time a PowerPoint presentation featured architectural renderings of the proposed center.

The state-of-the-art multilevel, multimillion dollar community center is slated 50,000-square feet and will occupy a parcel at Broadway and Magnolia Avenue. Plans call for a variety of yet-to-be-determined features including a television broadcast studio, Internet café, multipurpose rooms, fitness and weight room, dance & aerobics studio, performance space with stage, game room and senior lounge and administrative offices.

"The community center will be a hub for lifelong learning, recreation, sports, fitness and training for New Cassel residents, particularly the youth," Kaiman said. "I am proud of the effort and support my administration and residents have put into this initiative."

Troiano said he was ecstatic to see this long-time dream, which has been some four decades in the making finally coming to reality. "What you will ultimately see reflects the vision of the community," he said.

Prior to last week's meeting, five schools in the Westbury School District participated in a one-day visioning effort-a process used to solicit input from residents about plans impacting their communities-in which students brainstormed a wish list of amenities for the proposed community center. Input was also solicited from the Westbury Library, the Village of Westbury Recreation Department, Westbury School's administration and residents.

The center will be paid for, in great part, through $10 million in funding from Neptune Regional Transmissions System LLC thanks to an agreement Kaiman and Troiano struck with the Connecticut-based firm. The 65-mile long undersea and underground electric transmission cable, which was developed by Neptune, will bring nearly 1.2 million MWh of low-cost power to Long Island in the peak summer season.

The high voltage direct current cable runs from Sayreville, NJ to a point south of Jones Beach and then to a facility at Duffy Avenue in New Cassel where the electricity is converted for usage on LIPA's system.

"It was important to us that the residents of New Cassel and the Westbury School District receive a significant community asset in exchange for hosting this project. I believe that the agreement negotiated by the town with Neptune accomplishes this by enabling local residents' dream of a multipurpose, multi-level, multimillion dollar community center to be realized," said Troiano.