Unlike the city’s seniors, it seems like Maricopa teens aren’t so keen on getting their own center. Instead, they want multiple spaces around the city that can better accommodate their activities and needs.

That’s according to a youth and teen services survey conducted earlier this year that asked youth ages 9 to 19 what types of programs or activities are needed in Maricopa. The results were discussed by the Maricopa Youth Council during a Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee meeting last week.

Sports and recreation took the cake for pre-teens — kids ages 9 to 12 — receiving 73% of responses. Other top picks in this age group included arts, music and performance programs (62%) and social events (59%).

Older youth focused more on their emerging adulthood. About 77% said their top priority was job training, life skills building and volunteering. Meanwhile, 69% said they wanted hangout spaces “in a non-structured environment,” while 65% said they wanted more social events.

Cassidy Price, a member of the Maricopa Youth Council, said most teens want flexibility in both space and activities.

“Teens like to bounce around. They don’t like to feel trapped into doing one thing; we like multiple activities going on all at once,” she said.

That sentiment was echoed by Zion Dennis.

“I prefer an interactive space that allows talking with an activity like Legos or rock climbing,” he said. “Talking without an activity can feel awkward. I would want the space to be inclusive where everyone feels welcome.”

Comments like those suggest the city’s youth don’t necessarily want a single center dedicated to them — an idea that has been suggested multiple times by youth advocates, as recently as January’s futures planning meeting. Instead, teens appear to favor multiple areas spread throughout the city.

Councilmember Amber Liermann said that was the impression she got from attending the meeting.

“I think [city staff] were asking if the city needs a teen center or do teens need a space in the city meet,” she said, “and I think that comes from the students’ dialogue because they continued to describe a space that had multiple activities going on at the same time.”

While a dedicated teen center was not decided, she added that one of the concerns she heard was transportation. Most teens said they still rely on family members to drive them around the city, or they ride a bicycle or take public transportation if it runs in their area.

“In 10 years, Maricopa is going to be much larger than it is now, so creating [multiple] spaces for teens is going to be important,” she said.

That was precisely the concern raised by teen Tiernan Fraser.

“I live on the East Side, and I rely on my parents to drive me to events,” Fraser said. “Maricopa is not a big city, but it’s big enough that events can be too far. It would be helpful to have events we can walk or ride our bike to.”