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Committee hears YMCA tour reports and public testimony calling for a YMCA in St. Mary’s County
Summary
Committee members reported on YMCA facility tours in Maryland and Georgia; public commenters, including longtime users of YMCA programs, urged the county and committee to accelerate feasibility and fundraising work and recommended partnerships and sliding‑scale pricing for low‑income families.
Several committee members reported on visits to YMCA facilities and described programming, membership models and facility features they observed, while public commenters and committee members urged the committee to accelerate firm steps toward a YMCA in St. Mary’s County.
Beverly Johnston described two YMCA visits on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: a new facility in St. Michaels and a large, 86,000-square-foot center in Easton. Johnston said the St. Michaels site is co‑located on school property and includes a senior center partnership, fitness and multipurpose rooms, an aquatic center and a warming kitchen used to serve senior lunches. Johnston said the Easton facility offers multiple indoor pools, a teaching kitchen, a play area and a wide range of community programs; the Easton YMCA gives free memberships to sixth graders and offers sliding‑scale fees and scholarships.
Ashley (committee member) summarized a YMCA in coastal Georgia that is moving closer to a large high school campus and noted that not all smaller Y branches include full pool facilities; some act as multiuse gyms, meeting rooms and after‑school spaces.
Public testimony included a multi‑generational personal history from Susan Greer, who described how YMCA swimming lessons, camps and programs shaped her family over decades and called for a local YMCA to provide those same benefits. A resident speaker urged the committee to identify community needs first (childcare, youth programming, job training) rather than focusing solely on building size. Commissioner Mike Hewitt urged the committee to define the services the county lacks and to plan fundraising strategies, noting other jurisdictions have used donated land or seed funds to leverage building construction.
Several committee members and speakers stressed that a YMCA’s services can be distributed across satellite sites and partnered facilities — schools, libraries and churches — while a central facility is developed. Committee members also urged more outreach to residents in the northern end of the county and to underserved groups; staff and volunteers said they are coordinating public outreach and that a feasibility study will include community surveying.
The committee voted to make Lexington Park its focus and to include the nearby 3.14‑acre parcel as a candidate study site. Several attendees volunteered to help with outreach and fundraising planning.
