HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-01-03-SCAP-min
Senior Center Action Plan Committee Meeting
January 3, 2006
5:30 pm
Present: Shirley Stolz, Duke Bitsko, Maria Constantinides,
Lauren MacNeil, Paul Lapointe, Marian Cohen, Laura Kole,
Richard Pagett, Charles Hornig, Marilyn Campbell,
Review and refresh committee’s charge
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Review and assess the programmatic and space requirements for the Senior
Center as developed by the COA (Council on Aging).
??
Review and assess Senior Center site options identified in earlier siting committee
reports and identify one as acceptable for further pursuit.
??
Establish a budget and timeline for the design and completion of construction of a
new Senior Center.
The sites currently under consideration
Harrington School, Depot Square and Munroe School. What answers do we need to
settle on a place? What questions do we need to be able to answer to defend our choice?
There was some discussion about the fields across Waltham Street from Clarke Middle
School: is there any part of that land that is available for development? A citizen called
Maria and suggested there is. Duke will check on it.
Depot Square
Duke brought two drawings of possible parking/senior center configurations. The two
options: Put Senior Center (SC) at the Meriam Street end or Put SC at narrow, eastern
end. This is NOT a rectangular property, it narrow significantly at one end (eastern).
Senior Center at Meriam St end
Currently parking spaces are 5 feet from the property line, we would have to
abide by the 25 foot setback , thus losing a row of parking.
We want 120’ minimum width to fit two car lengths. A 26,000 sq. ft. building in
2 stories would have a footprint approximately 12,000 sq ft on bottom, 14,000 on
second floor. Given this, it seems likely that we would have 270 parking spaces,
not 320. There are 85 spaces in the narrow tail at the eastern edge of the current
lot. Right now there are 300 lined spaces plus 60 more valet parked.
If we went to 3 levels of parking we would get 320 spaces maximum. If we could
manage to get only a 10 foot setback permitted rather than 25’ we could get more
spaces. Duke concluded that this really isn’t a good place, in general, for a
parking garage.
Senior Center at Grant St end
Here again we have a building approximately 25,000 sq ft. The parking garage, at
the Meriam St. end, can be 105 feet wide because of 25’ setbacks. Duke
Minutes: 2006-01-03-SCAP-min
estimates between 350 and 420 cars in such a garage: 375 sq. ft per space, 25’
setback. There could be a drop-off area between the garage and the SC, a 25,000
sq ft SC and then 26 parking spaces in the very eastern tip of the lot. That gives a
maximum of 430 cars.
What would it look like looking from Mass Ave towards the Depot? You might
only see the garage on the side, the Depot is tall enough to obscure the view.
Conclusion: Parking garage will not really get us what we already have plus what
we need for the SC. To try to rezone the lot commercial, thus reducing the
setback requirements, is probably not possible. It is hard to justify the cost if you
are only going to get a few more spaces. The lot is not quite big enough to have
an efficient parking structure. We would have to go right up to the property line
or the shape of the lot is too narrow.
Motion to drop this site from our list of sites being considered…passed
unanimously.
Paul’ s presentation
Paul came up with a schedule for the project, assuming the construction numbers we got
from Phil Poinelli at the December 13, 2005 meeting. The handout lists predesign,
design, construction and actions required by the town. Assuming each piece proceeds
without delay, Paul estimates a groundbreaking in 2010! Our request for money must be
scheduled along with the other big costs coming along: White House, DPW, CPA,
Overrides, Estabrook, Dispatch Center… Note that if we pass CPA, we might get funds
for some of the project. Also, Friends of COA will raise some money. Next Paul
handed out his ‘Preliminary Senior Center Project Cost Estimates’ comparing the
estimated costs of the four remaining sites. We can do a feasibility study for ‘short
money’ he says. That way we will be certain when we go before Town Meeting (TM) for
the money for the design phase. We actually have money to do the study, but if we did it
now we still couldn’t start any work. On Paul’s schedule he sees that we would be
coming to TM for the big money in 2008.
Can we do a study for the $35,000 we already have? We have to study two places:
Munroe and Muzzey Condo. We need to go before TM to get a little more for feasibility
studies for them. Will TM go ballistic over Munroe as a site and shoot us down? Note:
we cannot release the $35,000 to study Munroe.
We need to go to the BoS with enough information to be able to bring forward their
decision based on our committee findings. Note: Munroe is currently a problem building.
Discussion of what we need to do to narrow down the Munroe option. Next week Lauren
will present how the COA program would use Munroe.
Meeting adjourned at 7:00 pm.
Minutes: 2006-01-03-SCAP-min
Next meeting: Tuesday January 10, 2006 at 5:30 in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room at
Town Hall.
Minutes: 2006-01-03-SCAP-min