The East Penn Township supervisors continue to do work on their community center located off of Blue Mountain Road even as they debate its future.

On Monday, they approved new concrete around the entrance of the building to take care of drainage issues, something they included in their 2019 budget.

But Supervisors’ Chairman William Schwab said he wants a long-range plan for the building, instead of doing projects as they come up.

“I’d love to see this place fixed up, but I really don’t want to go in debt for it,” Schwab said.

At his suggestion, the supervisors voted 4-0 to authorize their engineer, Carbon Engineering, to propose a plan to renovate the building in phases. The supervisors did not specify a cost for the study.

Schwab said he thinks it will take seven to eight years to complete the renovations that the supervisors want, without putting the burden on taxpayers.

The township uses the community center, formerly known as East Penn Social Hall, for its regular council meetings and rents it to the public for weddings and other events.

Last year, they hired W2A Design group to do a feasibility study for a renovation of the building. The estimated cost to renovate the building was between $400,000-$600,000. The supervisors took no action because they didn’t feel the revenue from the building warranted it.

More recently, the board renovated restrooms and a conference room inside the building, and changed the name to East Penn Community Center from East Penn Social Hall.

Schwab said it is possible that it could someday become the township municipal building because it would have more space than the current building.

The building still doesn’t have enough toilets to meet modern building codes, and the doors are out of date, among other issues.

One idea discussed on Monday was making half of the building into storage for the township road crew, reducing the size of the building rather than increasing the number of toilets.

“If we cut down the size of the hall, the less toilets we need,” Schwab said.

The supervisors also discussed a bid to make the building comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and building codes. The quote was more than $18,000.

The supervisors agreed to get two more quotes for the work before they made a decision to go forward.

They also received a quote for maintenance on the boiler in the building, which they put on hold to get more information.

The concrete work is estimated to cost $7,345. It is expected to take care of drainage problems outside the building that cause a muddy mess for visitors. It includes excavating 750 square feet, 16 linear feet of new drains, pipe work on a small drain near the entrance, and concrete work.

A resident pointed out that the building is starting to cost money to the township again. Schwab pointed out to Supervisor John Strockoz that in the past, he voted to demolish the building.

“John, we got outvoted before — about knocking the building down,” Schwab said.