Informal straw polls at Tuesday’s meeting of the Wescott Junior High School Re-use Committee looking into the future of the building after it is vacated in 2010 showed an interest in not only saving the building, but also turning it into a community center.

Committee members, however, are being careful about what a potential $28 million project sounds like to the public. It’s not a cost they want taxpayers to bear.

Since the re-use committee was formed following the May 22 referendum, in which voters approved the building of a new middle school on Stroudwater Street, members have been trying to identify what all the options might be for the aging building on Bridge Street, from selling it as-is to renovating it and adding a 50 meter pool and an ice rink.

If the latter option – the most expensive – is taken, Westbrook would be home to the only 50 meter, Olympic-size pool in the state, according to Jim Violette, the committee’s co-chairman. It would open possibilities for revenues as well as grants and donations to help build it.

Violette said he will be speaking at a meeting of the competitive swimming group Maine Swimming on Saturday to ascertain what sort of support there would be for such a pool.

“There are families out there willing to donate a lot money for a pool,” Violette said.

Violette’s said his “pie-in-the-sky dream” is “Option 8” – building a community center with a pool and ice rink at a cost of between $26 million and $28 million. It would fully revamp the existing building to provide office and community space for various nonprofit groups and possibly for the school and city administrative offices. It would keep the existing pool as a “therapeutic pool” and add the 50 meter pool and ice arena with seating for 1,000 onto the back of the building where the football field is. Also included is an indoor track and likely street improvements in the area.

The state is paying $26 million of the $33 million cost of a new middle school and auditorium on Stroudwater Street. It would not have funded any renovation of the existing Wescott building because the costs would have been much higher to create an equal facility. The Option 8 project is not expected to go forward without outside financial support to supplement tax money. Operational costs are expected to be offset by rent and other revenues, but the city has not put the numbers together yet to see if this is feasible.

If significant alternative funding is not found to build the sports and community center, other options include a significant overhaul to replace the roof and mechanical systems in order to allow a basic community center to be built up. Nonprofit groups such as the People’s Regional Opportunity Program, the Mission Possible Teen Center, the Boys and Girls Club and senior citizen and food pantry operations could be housed in the building with potentially low rents.

This smaller option would cost $11 million to $12 million, which City Administrator Jerre Bryant guessed could be offset by a couple million dollars in revenue from the sale of city hall if municipal offices were to move.

All discussions are in preliminary stages still and the city is looking to get as much input from the public as possible. It is especially interested in hearing from organizations who may be interested in locating at the Wescott building if it is saved.

“You really need to come and tell us what you want,” Mayor Bruce Chuluda said.

If citizens don’t want the building, selling it is still an option being considered, though that was the second option eliminated from the original eight in the informal straw polls at Tuesday’s meeting.

Most of the residents at the meeting expressed an interest in saving the building, citing South Portland’s community center as “beautiful.” But they also noted that Scarborough voters turned down a proposition to build a senior center last year. Committee co-chairman Al Juniewicz said Option 8, if paid for by taxpayers, could add $300 a year to the taxes on the average $220,000 home. No one considered that an option.

Andrew McBrady, the aquatics director for the city’s recreation department, voiced strong concerns about what would happen if the Wescott building were disposed of – whether by being torn down or sold off – as it is the only year-round pool in the city. He said the pool is used by many seniors for exercise, and is valuable for children to learn to swim

“The timing might be right to look for new dollars around ideas like (obesity),” said Louise Marsden, Child and Family Services director at the People’s Regional Opportunity Program. She said there are a number of funding opportunities for activities for kids.

The group next meets Thursday, Nov. 8, at 6 p.m. at the public safety building.