Tuesday: Woman's Club Input Meeting

This article originally ran June 5.

Got ideas about how the Maplewood Woman's Club should be used? Here's a chance to speak your mind.

Maplewood Township will host a public input session on the use of the Woman's Club on Tuesday from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Durand Rd.

The goal of the session is to solicit ideas and suggestions from the public on programs and activities they would like to see at the property, which the township now officially owns. The session grew out discussion and planning being done by the Woman's Club Task Force, which is comprised of township officials and others.

"The Task Force came up with quite a few uses after speaking with various experts" including non-profits and the town's Historic Preservation Commission, said Deputy Mayor Kathleen Leventhal, who spearheads the force along with Township Committee member Jerry Ryan. "We want to add ideas from the community-at-large."

Leventhal said when the founders of the arts organization Studio B told the TC about how they have used the venue, she realized there may be other creative ideas out there that the TC and other professionals were not aware of. 

The meeting will be an informal drop-in event with no group presentation. Attendees can speak to any of the township representatives to ask questions and offer opinions and suggestions. No action will be taken at the meeting.

Township Engineer Thomas Malavasi will be on hand and will have drawings of each level of the building, reports and the Task Force’s listing of possible uses, Leventhal said. Mayor Vic DeLuca and various department heads will also be there, she said.

More information and documents on the Woman's Club can be found on the township website.