RAF LAKENHEATH - Before the teen center closed for renovations in August, Shontinique Jones spent hours there every week painting murals with her fellow young artists.

Other Lakenheath High School students flocked there after school and on weekends to play music, shoot pool, watch movies, use the computer lab, study or just hang out.

Friday night could draw as many as 250 teens, and between 50 and 100 on Saturday nights and after school during the week, according to sign-in sheets.

But even after the roof is fixed and the interior refurbished later this year, their adolescent playground likely will stay closed for good.

Air Force safety regulations — which are tougher for sites dedicated to children — require that the center be outfitted with fire sprinklers. But base officials can avoid that expense by designating the 16,000-square-foot building for the whole community, not just teens.

It’s an option officials are seriously considering, given that a new fire suppression system would likely cost several hundred thousand dollars and was not included in the $350,000 renovation budget.

“We went down this path thinking maybe that we could get a quick solution to the teen situation and give them [back] their gathering place,” said Lt. Col. Derrick Aiken, 48th Services Squadron commander. “But … it looks like the win-win for everybody is to make this a family-use facility.”

What’s more, the move would serve more residents in a time when funds are tighter than ever, officials said.

“We have to be very careful about where we spend the money to make sure it’s hitting the largest target audience we have,” said Col. John Clarke, 48th Mission Support Group commander.

The building’s skating rink has always been open to the general public and has not closed because renovations have yet to start. Airmen also continue to use the rink for physical training and a concert was held there in February.

However, rooms full of computers, furniture, TVs, video games, air hockey and pool tables remain off-limits to everyone “until we formulate the final format for that facility,” Aiken said.

In the meantime, the library has set up a place called “Teen Zone” — a small room with a few tables, chairs and computers — where student groups can meet. The community center is another option for teens, though it closes at 8 p.m. for those under 18.

Despite the concessions, some teens contend it’s not the same as having their own space. With so little to do outside the gates, the center is sorely missed, they said.

Some have resorted to walking around base in packs. Shontinique and her friends — like many of their classmates — socialize at the base exchange food court.

“People still hang out, they just don’t have anywhere to go,” said Shontinique, 16. “When you hear about the alternative to what kids are doing now without the teen center, it seems like there’s more partying and drinking going on.”

Students do not seem to be turning to drugs or alcohol more since the teen center was closed, said Roger Volk, a substance abuse counselor at Lakenheath High, but getting another one in place is integral to keeping it that way.

“Kids do things in groups,” Volk said. “And if they’re doing [positive] things at the teen center, there’s no temptation to do anything else.”

Still, a new teen staff director — expected to come on board in the next few months — will help make sure teens are taken care of, said Matthew Driver, 48th Services Squadron family member programs chief. The position has been vacant for nearly a year.

Though Volk said teens presented a convincing case to base officials about locating the center elsewhere on base, “the funding just isn’t there right now,” said Airman 1st Class Torri Ingalsbe, Lakenheath spokeswoman.

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