New Berlin committee formed to move community center plans ahead

BERLIN, Md.- Plans for a new community center in Berlin are getting in motion.

Town officials recently created the Community Center Development Committee to make plans, something that locals can also get involved in.

“As you you probably know, Berlin is really booming right now and we’ve got a lot of the younger population coming in, moving into town, especially as they start to have children I think it would be a wonderful addition,” Frankie Zurla, who works at Victorian Charm, said.

We are told by the Mayor of Berlin that plans for a community center has been in the works for years.

He proposed using more than $27,000 from the town’s budget for a community center feasibility study, but the council eliminated that possibility for right now.

“I put that money in my FY22 budget as well but the council saw a different path forward which is okay, that’s the nice part of having a group of people come together on a budget is that you get different perspectives,” Mayor Zack Tyndall, of Berlin, said.

Council member Jack Orris tells us before that kind of study can happen, they feel a committee needed to be made.

He said that’s because there were many different opinions on the future community center, including how it will be used.

“We need to figure out what exactly we want as a community and then the feasibility study may be the next step,” Council member Orris said.

And locals said they want their voices to be heard in the process.

“The residents opinions hear and the business owners opinion here, especially really does go a long way,” Zurla said.

And while all of the details are not ironed out, the committee is still searching for members that represent the community.

“To be diverse, cause we do have a diverse town, I want to try and get somebody from every election district,” Mayor Tyndall said.

“It isn’t a committee if just the Mayor and Council decide whats i’ts going to be, we need community input,” Council member Orris, said.