There are people in Sammamish who have been trying for almost two decades to get a facility for teens built — somewhere they could be safe, be with friends, in a supervised and healthy environment.

Staff from local youth groups, parents, teachers, and the teens themselves, have long been putting their hand up in city meetings and asking “what about a teen center?”

The city has not been deaf to these calls. A few years ago when it was announced that the King County Library Service (KCLS) would be building a new library next to city hall, and would be selling the existing building, the city and teen center advocates turned their attention there.

The Boys and Girls Club of Redmond and Sammamish, which currently operates out of temporary facilities on 208th Ave NE in Redmond, raised more than $1 million — letting the city know that they would be willing to fit and operate the center, should the city be able to purchase a building.

But the downturn in the economy seemed to put the teen center idea on the back-burner, even as the gap in services for young people in the city became more and more obvious with every passing year.

In April of this year, city staff told The Reporter that there were no immediate plans to purchase the library — KCLS said “If the city comes to us with a proposal that fits in with what we need to do, then we would like to work with them. If not, then we will be offering it up for sale.”

All of a sudden, in the last month or so, the machinations of these things have kicked into gear. KCLS got three fresh appraisals on what the building is worth — about $3.8 million — and told the city that if it is still interested in the place they will sell it to them for 90 percent of the appraised value, as per KCLS policy on asset sales.

On Tuesday night at city hall the Sammamish City Council voted unanimously that, yes, they were still interested.

The council, minus the absent Lee Fellinge, voted to purchase the existing library at a cost of about $3.42 million.

Dozens of residents supporting the purchase were on hand to watch the council take this historic step, with several addressing council during the public submissions period.

Vanessa Martinez of the recently formed Sammamish Teen Center Now committee, urged the city to listen to the many groups which had for years been asking for a teen center or multi-use facility in Sammamish.

“We have a unified coalition for this to become a reality,” she said.

Sandy Livingston said that she first became involved in her local school’s PTA in 1993.

“Back then we were talking about a need (for a center),” she said. “It’s been 16 years. We must have a teen center for these kids, it’s just so important.”

These are words the city has been hearing for some time, and hopefully now the discussion will turn to “what” and “how”, rather than “when?”

Mayor Don Gerend said on Wednesday they are in a position to put 20 percent of the purchase price down now, and plan to close the sale in early January.

“This will probably come out of the savings from the transportation capital fund,” he said.

As reported in this paper over recent months, the poor economy has led to a number of bids for city projects to come in under the engineers estimates, saving the city millions.

It is estimated that the city has some $10 million in savings available.

City Manager Ben Yazici said that, in some ways, having the November 2008 bond measure to fund the purchase of the library fail was a blessing in disguise.

“One and a half to two years ago, when the real estate market was stronger, the library was valued and came out at $4.5 million plus,” he said. “Things worked out quite well.”

He said it was the savings the city had achieved on recent transportation projects that enabled them to go ahead with the purchase, and added that he was “proud of the council for responding to the community’s interests.”

While the council will be pleased to finally satisfy the desire of so many citizens, it is hardly a case of pats on the back all-round.

Councilor Nancy Whitten, for one, is concerned that the city has not considered all available options.

“I think we made a quick decision without thinking it through,” she said.

She said that a recreational center at the library is just an interim measure, and does not address the longer term goal of a more comprehensive community recreational facility, with a pool, in the town center.

“There are pros and cons,” Whitten said. “It’s not right to say that I’m against it, I voted for it.”

Whitten said that she “loved the idea of a recreation center, but we need to remember that the needs of the senior community are also very important.”

The councilor said that the location of the library posed some serious issues in terms of traffic.

“Have you been down there?” she asked The Reporter. “It’s crazy.” Whitten said that the current situation of having to do a u-turn north of the library, and being able to turn left when exiting the library driveway, was a disaster waiting to happen.

“Think about that, with teenage drivers in particular,” she said, adding that at present, traffic is spread fairly evenly throughout the day, but when used as a center for teens and other groups, traffic would come in more concentrated waves.

Councilor Kathy Huckabay agreed with Whitten, saying that the city “doesn’t seem to have an end game” when it came to what it will do with the library.

“It has always been the intention that it would be an interim step, and that we would then sell it,” she said.

On Tuesday night, Huckabay proposed an amendment to the vote, that the facility not be referred to as a teen center, but as a recreation/teen center.

“I felt it was very important to get that on the table last night, that the city has a commitment to provide these services to other people in the community,” she said.

She said that she was worried where “taking $3.5 million off the table” leaves the city in terms of a recreational center in the future, one that she hopes will be built in the town center, but, unlike Whitten’s vision, without a pool.

As of the library purchase — “It wouldn’t have been my choice, but I understand the pressures from the community.”