The group hopes to remain in its Waterfront Park location.

If variety is indeed the spice of life, then the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center might best be described as a culinary inferno.

Mix a few foot rubs with a dash of aerobics, a pinch of pinochle and a smattering of Spanish lessons and you’ll end up with a fiery brand of senior stew that, judging by the BISCC’s growing membership, clearly satisfies.

But no matter how much the staff tweaks the recipe, what the senior center really needs are a few more spoonfuls of space.

“We are really constrained,” said past BISCC board president and early founder Joan Treacy. “I’ve watched it grow and I’m very proud of it, but we’ve felt the pinch tremendously over the past few years.”

Now, after several years spent laying the groundwork, the senior center is finally ready to take its first steps toward expansion.

In addition to creating a task force that includes city and park district representatives, ARC Architects has been hired to complete a feasibility study on the project.

To kick things off, the BISCC will host a meeting at 3 p.m. on Sept. 14 to assess its future program and service needs.

Staff and the design team are looking for input from seniors about what they want from the facility now and in the future.

Once they determine that, architects can begin designing a space to accommodate those uses.

The meeting will be the first of four such meetings that will culminate with the presentation of the preferred design and preliminary costs for the project in December.

The 1,953-square-foot senior center has some 1,100 members and adds about 18 new members each month.

The city owns the current building, but the Bainbridge Island Metropolitan Park District pays for the staff. Funding for the expansion has not yet been worked out.

By most accounts, the biggest need is additional space, especially as the island’s population ages. The median age on Bainbridge Island, at 43, exceeds the Kitsap County median by seven years.

Because many senior center members live near its current location in Waterfront Park, the board voted against moving the facility elsewhere, if possible.

Architect Rex Bond said it’s likely the center could expand where it is now, provided program needs don’t grow dramatically.

“Once we determine the user needs, we’ll be able to tell how much square footage will be needed,” he said. “Then we can explore different ways to arrange the different elements.”

Bond said the center’s unusual location in the middle of a park prevents the possibility of expanding outward, meaning the building would likely gain in height by at least one story, possibly two.

That, he said, works well with the natural grade change, which slopes downward by about 10 feet from north to south.

In building up, architects would have to be careful of view corridors and adhere to the 35-foot height limit, both of which are doable according to Bond.

He said other important factors to consider are parking and impacts on trees and the neighboring playground.

First, though, Bond needs to learn what the community wants.

“Once we get further down that road we can begin to do the architectural part and put an actual building form on the land,” he said.

As it stands now, there’s a granny in every cranny of the building.

Mealtimes are often overcrowded, as is the lobby, where many like to socialize, but sometimes can’t because there’s only room enough for a few chairs.

Exercise classes and bridge games, along with any larger event, must jockey for position in the commons area. Some smaller classes and meetings – including senior center board meetings – have been relegated to card tables in a cramped conference room in the adjoining health district clinic.

For Treacy and members of the Memoirs Club she chairs at the center twice a month, finding a spot to meet can be nearly as adventurous as exploring their pasts.

“We never know where we’re going to meet,” she said. “And that’s an issue for all the classes.”

Retired lawyer and BISCC board member Richard Buchanan began giving free legal advice at the senior center three years ago. Like Treacy, his group meets twice a month, wherever space is available. Under one recent setup, Buchanan said several women who were playing cards had to shuffle their tables so he could get by.

“You couldn’t even open the door,” he said. “It will be nice when we can have a regular time and meeting place.”

Though the space limitations are challenging, BISCC director Jane Allan is happy the senior center is bustling and, more importantly, growing.

She said building flexible spaces will be key to a successful expansion.

“We’re starting with an open mind,” she said. “But flexibility is so important because it’s hard to know for sure what kind of programs we’ll have in 10 or 15 years.”

She said the living room, reception area and kitchen could all use more space. Rooms that can offer smaller groups greater privacy would also be helpful, she said, especially for things like foreign language classes.

“It’s hard to have a Spanish class and a Chinese class going on in the same room,” Allan said.

A new health room would be welcomed as well. The senior center provides a number of health- care services, like foot care and blood pressure checks.

Allan said the thrift store, funds from which help pay for senior center programs, will be a part of the future BISCC.

Treacy said some of the male members have lobbied for a tool room, where people could come to make household repairs with donated tools.

“If you live in a two-bedroom condo, you don’t have room for a table saw,” she said of space constraints that are already familiar to those who use the senior center.

“For a lot of seniors, this is the focal point of their social lives,” she said. “People do need a place to have a good time with others near their own age.”