ELDERSBURG — Area seniors are using every last minute of the time they have at the South Carroll Senior and Community Center before it closes its doors Friday, Nov. 13 to move to a new location at 5928 Mineral Hill Road, Eldersburg.

"It's the fun center," said Ruth Moreau of Eldersburg, laughing.

On Nov. 4, a group of women in the crafts room were busy piecing together items for a bazaar Thursday and Friday, Nov. 12-13. As soon as the bazaar ends, it's time to pack and leave.

Some members are looking forward to bigger rooms, but others, such as Shiela Martin of Marriottsville, is worried the new $12 million center might be too big.

"We're kinda afraid that it might not be as cozy as it is here," she said.

The new, 31,000-square-foot senior center sits on 21 acres and will feature a gymnasium, meeting rooms, craft rooms, a kitchen and a lounge.

The old center has been about 9,000 square feet, with no gym and relatively small classrooms.

Richard Steinberg, chief of the Carroll County Bureau of Aging, expects the old senior center to close Nov. 13, and the new center to open Tuesday, Nov. 17.

"I think what will happen that first week is a lot of time spent with getting people familiarized with the new center and the layout," Steinberg said.

The county will host a ribbon cutting and tours of the new center Dec. 2 at 10 a.m., he said.

Much of the operations will stay the same at the new center, Steinberg, said. Hours, activities and programs will be steady until needed.

"What I find exciting is we have a group of people who attend the center now who are loyal to the center," he said. "The center is a large part of their life, and they are a large part of the center."

Arlene Rockwell, of Sykesville, works with ceramics and has come to the existing center for 13 years.

"It's like a big family," she said. "It's a new beginning for the center, and we're hoping to do things we can't do here because of space."

Jeff Degitz, director of Carroll County Department of Recreation and Parks, said the gym will serve not only seniors, but younger people as well, and will help provide relief for basketball and volleyball programs, providing more time slots for teams.

Also, because the gym is not at a school, the gym provides as a space for stay-at-home residents, pre-schoolers, home school students and other groups that might not have had access to indoor gyms, he said.

"It helps our inventory of gymnasium space in South Carroll, and just the hours it's available (is helpful, too)," he said.

Requests to use the gym will go through the county's Recreation and Parks office, he said.

As with the Robert Moton Center in Westminster, another multi-use facility, if nothing is scheduled for a time slot, users are free to use the space for a pick-up basketball game or other activities, he said.

Other features at the new South Carroll Senior and Community Center include energy efficient design.

The center is the county's first with geothermal heating and cooling -- a design feature that led to a delay in its opening from August to December, according to Tom Rio, county director of the Department of General Services.

The geothermal design is one feature that will make the project certified for energy efficiency by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The center will be the fourth county-owned building -- behind Ebb Valley Elementary and Manchester Valley High schools and Finksburg Library -- to use geothermal technology to heat and cool the space.

"We're confident that it will work, but rather than opening the building and going through some rough patches, we decided to run (the geothermal) system for a few weeks," Rio said.

The future of the old senior center remains uncertain. The center was initially the Johnsville School, a black schoolhouse, through the 1960s.

Plans for how the county will use the building now are still developing, Rio said.

"The Department of Economic Development is finalizing its proposal for a use for that building," Rio said, but added he would let the department staff finish its proposal before commenting further. "We are reserving that building for economic development use."

But no matter what the old center will become, folks like John Schultz, of Eldersburg, will remember for what it is today.

"It's the warmest center in the county," he said.

"Everybody's welcomed here," he added, "and it's just a nice thing to belong to."

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South Carroll Senior and Community Center

Opening Nov. 17 at 5928 Mineral Hill Road, Eldersburg; phone 410-386-3700.

Open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Breakfast served daily 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Cost is a contribution up to $2 for seniors 60 and older and $2 for those under 60. Lunch is served at noon for a cost up to $3.35. Reservations required to eat at center.

Activities at new center

Thursday, Nov. 19

12:15 p.m. -- November birthdays celebrated

12:30 p.m. -- Bruce Lohr, crime prevention specialist, speaks about holiday safety

1:15 p.m. -- Carroll County Public Libraries Bookmobile

Tuesday, Nov. 24

Noon -- Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. Reservations required by calling the current center at 410-549-1357 before Nov. 13. Entertainment at 1 p.m. by country singers Maria Rose and Danny Keswick.

Thursday, Nov. 26 and Friday, Nov. 27

Closed for Thanksgiving Holiday

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