MADAWASKA, Maine — Confusion over a proposal to move a fitness center and create a daycare in its place prompted Madawaska residents to petition the Select Board against the plan.
The town has made no formal decisions around the proposal, which would move the town’s gym from the Madawaska Middle/High School into the former Kmart building.
Madawaska has few childcare options, and officials said such a project would help solve parents’ needs and ideally entice more people to move to the area. It would be one of few municipally run childcare facilities in Maine, one of which is in Augusta.
Both the gym and childcare facility would pay for themselves without affecting local taxes, town officials have previously said.
The town does not yet have enough information about whether the proposals are feasible, because it has not conducted a comprehensive financial analysis or long-term feasibility study, Select Board Chair Renee Deschaine said during a packed special meeting on Tuesday.
“The board has made no determination regarding either proposal,” she said. “There are still many questions to be answered and several steps remaining in the process.”
Both projects are in early phases, so cost estimates are not yet available.
The town has held two public informational meetings about the project. Madawaska would lease the Kmart building from Fort Kent businessman Steve Pelletier, who purchased it in 2024. The space in the school would then be converted into a town-run childcare center, which would include four rooms and serve children up to 5 years old.
The town conducted an online survey in which, out of 174 responses, 44% strongly supported the fitness center plan and 11% strongly opposed it.
Residents at the meeting questioned the survey, as many of the gym’s members do not use the internet or social media and their opinions on the project were not accounted for.
Many attending the meeting thought the town had already made a formal decision regarding the project. This led to the circulation of a petition at the gym asking the town not to tether the two projects together. The petition received 87 signatures in less than a week.
One fitness center member told the board that he and others are not opposed to moving the gym, but they are concerned about the town making a hasty decision and moving into a building where rent would need to be paid and membership costs could increase.
Resident and gym member John Pelkey wrote a guest column in The County outlining his concerns.
“My concern is not the destination. It is the path being taken to get there,” Pelkey wrote. “What troubles me most is that the catalyst for creating a new gym was not an identified need for a new fitness facility. The catalyst was the desire to create a child care center, and the gym became the piece that had to move to make that happen.”
Pelkey said at the meeting he opposed the idea that the gym would need to generate more revenue than it currently does in order to move to the new location. He has questions about the costs or sustainability of the current proposed plan, he said.
Town Manager David Daigle said the town’s intent is to make the space better than the current gym, which involves monetizing certain aspects of the facility, such as adding a smoothie bar.
“Those are all potential things to offset the costs so that we don’t have to increase membership fees,” Daigle said, adding that new equipment offerings may attract more members and further increase the revenue.
The town must consider the long-term future of the school, Deschaine said. Should Madawaska consolidate with MSAD 33 of Frenchville and St. Agatha, the building would close — meaning the town could be on the hook for school maintenance costs that state funding covers while the school is open.
The lease for the Kmart building has not been finalized, and town officials do not yet have financial estimates for the costs to move the gym.
Madawaska Code Enforcement Officer and Administrative Specialist Denise Duperre, who formerly served on the Select Board, said she understood concerns about keeping the projects separate, but that it could be beneficial to do this under the umbrella of the town’s recreation department, which has grown its programs.
A grant application for a childcare facility would also get more attention and would be more likely to be approved than an application for a community gym, Duperre said. She suggested the recreation center could facilitate both in a building on 7th Avenue that is mostly used for ice skating.
“Not only could you use the gym for the gym, but you could also use it for teaching younger children how to be healthy,” she said. “There are fields back there. There is so much room up there. There is so much potential.”
One resident agreed that the building is not being used to its full capabilities and could be used to give the town’s elderly population a place to walk in the winter when the roads are too icy.
The board did not take any action.
“We’re happy to see how much you guys care about the gym,” Deschaine said. “We’re very grateful.”