The facility — built largely with donations — was operated by the town of Skaneateles, but owned by a charitable trust.
Two fathers watch their sons during USA Hockey Association Bantum Auburn Ice Hawks ice hockey practice last year at the Skaneateles Community Center, 97 State Street, Skaneateles.
Chrissy Dempsey, 12, tries out the two-story water slide in the aquatic center of the Skaneateles Community Center in 2002. The facility opened to the public in April 2002. The Auburn YMCA has agreed to manage the facility.
The Skaneateles Community Center — an $8.8 million facility built largely through private donation — is going to be managed by the Auburn YMCA-WEIU.
The owners of the center, Skaneateles Recreational Charitable Trust, entered into a partnership with the YMCA for the Y to manage the facility, according to a joint announcement issued Friday afternoon.
The town of Skaneateles has been operating the center since 2001. In August 2009, the town voted to stop operating the facility.
Skaneateles Supervisor Terri Roney could not be reached for comment Friday evening.
The center will become the Skaneateles YMCA and Community Center effective August 1.
The center includes an ice rink, pools, workout rooms, tennis courts and other features.
With reciprocal membership privileges, members will now have access to two facilities, for one membership fee, Bill Allyn, a trustee of the center’s trust, said in a statement released Friday.
“This is a reason to celebrate,” Allyn said. “The partnership brings together two great organizations only seven miles apart.”
The facility was supposed to be self-supporting through program fees and membership charges, but requires a subsidy from the town to break even. In 2009, the town included $200,000 in its budget for the center.
The center will continue to owned by the trust.
In 2007, the trust was supposed to turn ownership over to the village with the town continuing to lease the property and operate the programs. That hasn’t happened because the village balked at taking over the center.
For the past two years, the trust, the village and the town have been trying to come up with a solution to the impasse.