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- Cache County received a $25,000 state grant to study the feasibility of a new senior center.
- The current center, built in 1975, is at capacity and lacks fire suppression, sufficient ADA amenities and parking.
- The study will explore options for a new facility, considering partnerships and future growth, as senior populations increases statewide.
LOGAN — Cache County was awarded a state grant Tuesday to begin mapping out a plan for a new senior center, according to county executive David Zook.
Utah's Community Impact Board released $25,000, which the county will match and put toward a feasibility study examining possible options for a new county senior center.
The current 15,000-square-foot facility at 100 East in downtown Logan opened in September 1975, center director Giselle Madrid told KSL.com. Because it was built 50 years ago, it has no fire suppression system, only one ADA-accessible bathroom for each gender, and limited space within rooms for those with assisted devices like walkers and wheelchairs.
"There's just not enough room to maneuver around," Madrid said.
Parking is another serious challenge. Zook told KSL.com, "We only have a handful of parking spots that are dedicated to our building," which he says forces patrons to park in nearby neighborhoods or parking lots.
A 2023 county report says that the Cache County Senior Center has grown to over 3,000 patrons — over 70% of whom have low to moderate incomes "and are at risk of poor nutrition and one or more chronic diseases, including mental illnesses." Three-fourths of participants visit the center between one and three times a week, spending an average of over three hours per visit, the report says.
Building a new facility will likely cost "several million dollars," according to Zook, and the county will work with consultants to identify size, location and amenity recommendations, as well as funding sources to bolster the current Older Americans Act federal dollars coming in.
Madrid said the senior center's operating cost in 2023 was over $1,186,000, and it grew by at least $139,000 last year. The totals for December have not been tabulated yet. With grants from the state and federal governments and donations, the county covered just over $285,000 for the center in 2023.
That same year, it was reported that the center served 9,160 meals. The center also serves as a "base of operations for a nutritional outreach program," Zook said, delivering over 37,000 meals to those who are homebound through the Meals on Wheels program.
According to 2023 census data, Logan seniors represent around a fourth of the county's senior population but were almost half (46.7%) of the center's registered patrons in the same year. Despite this, the municipality does not contribute to the center's funding. According to Zook, the study will also look at potential partnerships with cities and options to "co-locate" different county services in the same building.
Cache County is "on the brink of a population shift, with older adults making up a larger fraction of the population in the future," the report says.
According to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, Utah residents over 65 made up only 8% of the population in 1980. In 2020, that share increased to almost 12% and is predicted to be more than 20% by 2060.
Counties across the state are contending with this projected swell of seniors.
Zook says, in light of the data, "Our hope is that we'll come up with a plan to build something that will serve the county's senior populations for the next 50 years ... and include enough space for future growth."
Smithfield, Hyrum and Richmond also have senior centers but do not receive federal funding, which allows them to charge fees, Madrid said.
She said the incoming senior category is "a whole different demographic than it was 50 years ago," thanks to medical treatment and better health education. Many of these older adults "are active, they're thriving, they're aging in place healthy," and they need places to build community to combat the isolation of later years, she added.
Right now, these needs are limited to the small activity spaces. Tai chi, yoga, line dancing and other classes continue to be at capacity.
"Our current senior center is bursting at the seams with participants in the many programs provided there," Zook said. "Our seniors need and deserve a bigger and better facility."
