Since his first campaign for New London mayor in 2015, and even during his time on the City Council, Mayor Michael Passero has set a goal of building a community center in the city. It is a goal that we’ve endorsed, but one that so far eluded the administration.

But in a surprise announcement Thursday, Passero has a concept, a location, and a rough game plan to get it done.

That announcement should be greeted with a mixture of excitement, skepticism, and questioning.

The mayor envisions a public-private partnership to build a regional community recreation center in the Fort Trumbull peninsula. Funding would come from some combination of public financing, private investment and money raised though a capital campaign.

Even less defined is what would sustain operating costs. Fees, we suspect, would be charged for membership, but what would be the provision to assure the city’s youth, and its less privileged residents, have access? Passero said he envisions a sliding scale fee arrangement, based on ability to pay.

There is much to figure out.

Passero is asking the City Council to approve a $140,000 contract with the firm Brailsford & Dunlavey, which specializes in the planning and management of recreational initiatives, to draw up plans.

There are process questions. This is a city-controlled development area. A private project serving the city cannot be handed to an entity, it must be subjected to a competitive process.

Is the location the right one? The point of buying up properties in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood, and fighting a protracted and infamous battle to the U.S. Supreme Court to seize homes through eminent domain, was to develop the area and expand the city’s tax base. How will this plan play into that goal?

And how will the city’s youth access this community recreational center. Fort Trumbull is geographically set apart, distant from the public housing and many of the neighborhoods where young people are most in need of recreational options. How does the city get them to a facility in Fort Trumbull?

It is worth moving forward with the consulting study Passero seeks, but it should be broadly designed so that its ideas are transferable to other locations, should the city not settle on Fort Trumbull.

This is a start, but the administration is a long way from a finish.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.