Page 22 - 08.11.2025 Council Packet

I. COMMUNITY CENTER VISION

A. STEPS TAKEN TO GET TO FEASIBILITY
The Town of Berlin has worked over the past few years to combine four adjacent parcels
of property on Flower Street (130 Flower Street, Berlin, MD 21811) owned by the Berlin
Community Improvement Association, the Town of Berlin and Worcester County, to create a 6.5+
acre parcel that will house the future Berlin Community Center. The Community Center will
continue to support the current tenant, SHORE UP!, which runs Head Start early-childhood
education. The Community Center will incorporate after-school and summer programs run by
Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services, a non-profit currently serving the low- and
moderate-income population with free summer camp, funded annually by the Town of Berlin, and
will have various meeting rooms and community spaces, a computer lab, a playground and open
spaces for families, sports courts, and active recreational use.

The functions and facilities designed for the Community Center reflect the needs and
lifestyle of this rural and actively growing community. Primarily, the area will serve as a specialty
facility or amenity for SHOREUP! Inc. classrooms with a focus on health and wellness and a
versatile multi-sport indoor recreation space.

The Town has allocated almost $400,000 in its own budget to begin this process and will
be kicking off a multi-million-dollar fundraising effort for the construction of the future Center in
conjunction with the nonprofit Berlin Community Improvement Association. The Town has an
outstanding $1.4 Million Dollar request for Congressionally Directed Spending in FY26,
specifically to begin the process of building the Head Start classrooms. An additional request to
Worcester County's Reinvestment and Repair Grant for $250,000 will be reviewed in the Fall of
2025. A DHCD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) in FY25 of $100,000 has
supported our initial efforts to engage in this study, and the Town was recently awarded a CDBG
Special Project grant of nearly $300,000 to demolish the dilapidated multi-purpose building on the
former Flower Street School site.

This Center will create a safe space for new interactions across the lines that divide
“America’s Coolest Small Town.” The new Center will provide opportunities for a broad range of
social, cultural, recreational, and multigenerational interactions. The Community Center will help
Berlin’s residents access wellness programs for both youths and seniors which complement other
Town objectives, goals, and partnerships, as outlined most recently in our Town’s adopted 2024-
2028 Strategic Plan. The new components of the Center complement existing social and
recreational facilities in other parts of Worcester County, which are not easily accessible to the
rural, economically disadvantaged community in Berlin.
A feasibility study--which will surely highlight the location's fantastic walkability--included
in this phase of the project, will help determine how the growing population in and around Berlin,
throughout North Worcester County, will benefit from this community center. With census data
showing over 9% of the population in 21811 living in poverty, the need to provide a free, easily
accessible center at which the community can congregate is growing rapidly; additional census
data shows that almost 30% of the population is under the age of 18, so making a space
accessibly to children for health, wellness, activity, and education is of primary importance.

08.11.25 Council Packet Page 22 of 140
TOWN OF BERLIN COMMUNITY CENTER: FEASIBILITY STUDY 4