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Citrus Springs community center holds grand opening
By JORGE SANCHEZ, Times Staff Writer CITRUS SPRINGS -- Residents turned out Saturday to admire their new community center, two spacious buildings that will host wedding receptions and club meetings and will be the venue for numerous community activities. The community center buildings are a 13,295-square-foot auditorium with a stage, kitchen and seating for 400 and a separate 3,590-square-foot building with several multipurpose meeting rooms. The buildings drew many compliments for their upscale design. The dome ceiling in the bigger hall lends an air of formality and the large arch-top windows lining the walls bring in lots of soft light and give a nice view of surrounding woods. The $2-million community center was paid for by a special tax levied since 1994 on Citrus Springs property owners. Many in the audience said the tax money was well spent. The county created the Citrus Springs Municipal Service Benefit Unit in 1994 to pay for street lights, road improvements, fire hydrants and the new community center for the 2,111-home subdivision. Property owners pay an extra tax -- $25 for homeowners, $20 for the owners of about 28,443 vacant lots -- and a volunteer board appointed by the County Commission makes recommendations on how the money should be spent. "This is a great building, certainly nicer than any of the community centers in the rest of the county," said Hal Sistrand, chairman of the special taxing district. "This is something like you would see in an upscale community and built by the developers, it's that nice." Speaking at the grand opening ceremony Saturday, County Commissioner Vicki Phillips praised the work -- and patience of the Citrus Springs property owners. "It's taken a while, but it's finally here," Phillips said. "The people of this community put this building together and you did a fabulous job." The community center's new manager, Jessica Sanderson, 23, said she will review the results of a residents' survey this week before making decisions on what type of activities to schedule at the new center. The center is already booked for about a half-dozen wedding receptions, she said. Among the hundreds of residents taking the self-guided tour of the community center Saturday was Jo Romaine, 70, of Hernando. "It's great, and I see they're talking about offering exercise classes here, which me and my husband would definitely use," she said. The Citrus Springs community center is at 1570 W Citrus Springs Blvd., about 8 miles west of U.S. 41. For information, call (352) 465-7007. -- Jorge Sanchez can be reached at (352) 860-7313 or sanchez@sptimes.com. -- Information from Times files was used in this report.
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