YMCA has big plan in Amherst
A huge YMCA recreation center — the largest fitness facility in the Town of Amherst — has been proposed for a 13-acre plot of land adjacent to the Erie Community College North Campus between Wehrle Drive and Main Street.
A public hearing ob the project will be held at the Amherst Town Board meeting today.
The proposed 82,000- square-foot YMCA Northtowns Family Branch would be two stories tall and feature a circular main lobby, according to floor plans and information provided to the town’s Planning Department.
The first floor would also boast two 7,500-square-foot gymnasiums, a six-lane adult pool and adjacent children’s pool, four multipurpose rooms, a child care center and an “adventure area” that would offer rock-climbing equipment and other activities.
The second floor would house two aerobics studios and an 11,000-square-foot “wellness area” with fitness equipment.
Aside from the building itself, the rectangular parcel would also include parking for roughly 640 cars, said Planning Director Eric Gillert.
The newest YMCA branch would dwarf the organization’s existing 25,000-square-foot Northeast Family YMCA at the corner of Main Street and Amherstdale Road in Snyder.
The board needs to vote on the YMCA’s proposal because the fitness center would not be directly accessible off a public road, but rather via Tech Drive, a county-owned road on the ECC North Campus.
Erie County has already given the YMCA approval to use Tech Drive as an access road. The Amherst Planning Board has recommended approval of the project.
