Senior citizen advocates are hoping that consultants working on plans for a new Fayette County jail and judicial complex will work quickly. Their hopes for a new senior center have been put on a shelf until that planning work is done.

County administrator Billy Beckett said he hopes it will be only a few months before plans for the judicial complex are refined enough to determine whether land can be set aside for the senior center. Consultant firm Facility Justice Group Inc. is working to determine how big the new complex should be, whether the new jail can be built on the site of the old one, and other factors that would affect placement of the senior center.

"It breaks my heart," said Joan Neal, past president of Fayette Senior Services, following last week's County Commission meeting. "We thought we were on the way."

Newly elected commissioners Greg Dunn and Linda Wells joined commission Chairman Harold Bost in a 3-2 vote to reverse a decision commissioners made last month to set aside three acres for a new senior center.

As its last official act of 1998, the commission voted 4-1, with Bost opposed, to carve a niche for the senior facility out of 33 acres the county plans to use for the new jail and judicial complex. Commissioners voted last September to identify a parcel for the facility within 30 to 60 days.

"In my estimation, it was premature," Bost said as the new commission discussed rescinding the resolution as one of its first official acts of 1999.

Commissioner Herb Frady, who pushed hard during 1998 for the senior center, objected to Bost's suggestion that the group reverse itself. "We told the senior citizens in September and before that, in good faith" that the county would provide land for the center, Frady said.

"The public's going to have to learn to trust us when we make a decision," he added. "I would hate to see this board vote and reverse this decision that was made."

But Wells and Dunn said identifying the senior center site before making sure there's plenty of room for the judicial complex would be irresponsible. County officials also are tentatively considering the notion of building a new county administrative building on the land, which is off Lee Street.

"The expert wasn't even sure that the 33 acres we were looking at would be adequate" for the county projects, said Wells. "I agree that it would be premature to carve out three acres and go ahead and build on that," she said.

Space for parking presents part of that difficulty, said Frady, adding that he believes the county should plan for a multi-level parking deck at the complex, which he insisted would allow plenty of room for the senior center. "A... parking deck makes more sense than sprawling all this parking over all these acres," he said. "I think that's what we need to look at."

But committing to a given piece of property for the senior center "might prohibit us in the future from making the best use of this land," said Dunn.

Bost, Wells and Dunn said they are still committed to helping FSS find land for the center, but added that choosing the specific location will have to wait.

FSS members have been working toward a new center for years, said Andy Carden, director of the agency.

He had hoped to be searching for architects to design the facility by now, but architects can't do their work until a site is identified.

Once architects draw up plans, local advocates can take those plans to federal agencies in search of grants to help build the center, he added.

Carden envisions a 13,000-sq. ft. facility that can serve both active and less active seniors.

Such a facility could cost $1.5 million to $2 million or more, depending upon how elaborate the FSS board of directors elects to make it, he said.

The current senior center, at 390 Lee St. , is too small for the services FSS offers, he said.