Boulder City church planning to build youth center

By Jean Reid Norman

Thursday, May 21, 2009 | 4:06 p.m.

Bethany Baptist Church in Boulder City is raising money to build a 4,000-square-foot youth center to give the congregation’s teens a place to meet and play.

The center, expected to cost $200,000, will have a gymnasium and a living room-type setting complete with couches and Foosball, architect Chris Richardson said. It will sit next to the current classroom-office building facing Wyoming Street, according to plans.

The Boulder City Planning Commission on May 20 approved on a 5-0 vote the church’s plans for the project at 210 Wyoming St. Planning Commissioners Paul Matuska and Charles Peterson were absent.

The church has about half of the money it needs to build the center and plans to raise the remainder through the congregation, which averages Sunday attendance of 150, church elder Lary Street said. Construction will begin as soon as the money is raised, he said.

The idea is to give the 35 to 50 teens who attend the church “a place that’s theirs,” Street said.

The teen group now meets in the early childhood area attached to the church, and the young people play basketball on the grass using portable hoops. “There’s more people than room,” Street said.