Thursday marked another step toward Dutchess County's proposed youth center becoming a reality, as plans are being presented to the County Legislature tonight.

The vacant, shattered YMCA in the city of Poughkeepsie will be replaced with a multimillion-dollar county youth center.

"This may be the most important project the county engages in in the last 30 years," says Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro. "This will be a transformational project that will have a lifetime upon lifetimes of impact to benefit kids and their families."

Before any of the center's nutritional, mental and physical benefits take shape, legislators will need to approve county government becoming the lead agency on the project and taking ownership of the property from the city of Poughkeepsie.

They will also need to greenlight $10 million received from the American Rescue Plan for the initial demolition, then the project's design.

Molinaro believes the center will not only benefit children's lives but will also benefit taxpayers' wallets by centralizing the county's youth services, like their Path to Promise initiative.

"So, we will not only save money. And we will operationally save money. But we're also going to make a measurable difference in the lives of kids who otherwise could fall victim to crime, to gangs, to gun violence," he says.