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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1956-02-04-BOS-min 194 SELECTMEN'S MEETING February 4, 1956 A special meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen' s Room, Town Office Building, on Saturday, February 1I, 1956 at 9:00 A.M. Chairman Bateman, Messrs. Gay, James, and Maloney were present. The Clerk was also present. Mr. Harold E. Stevens, Town Counsel, Mr. Samuel Snow, Consultant to the Planning Board, Mr. Wilbur Jaquith, a member of the Planning Board, Mr. Saum, representing the Josiah Willard Hayden Recreation Centre, Inc. , and his attorney, kr. Daniel A. Lynch, attended the meeting. The discussion was more or less as follows: Lynch: You know what our basic problem is. It is not a serious problem. Mr. Saum tells me in this Hayden Recreation Centre they have about $5,000,000 to spend in the Town of Lexington. That fund will be augmented on the death of Mrs. Hayden by another $1,000,000. There is about $35,000 that will come to the corporation through the Foundation in New York. Plan presented by Mr. Lynch. This was the general area Mr. Hayden gave to the town in 1937. He gave it with the reserva- tion, with which I am sure we are all familiar. It was offered to the town in 1938 and was put up to the Town Meeting*November 10, 1938. The vote of the town was to accept the gift of Mr. Hayden to be used as a public playground and recreation center and for the promotion of winter sports. Sidney Wrightington at the time explained what the provisions would be and that it would revert to Hayden or his heirs if the town ever ceased to use it for playground purposes. It was accepted oh that basis. The town, following that gift, went in I think and did some small amount of improvement to use the place for rec- reation purposes. Nothing of substance, as far as I know, has been done with it. In his will, Mr. Hayden left his estate to the Josiah Willard Hayden Recreation Centre, a charitable corpora- tion for the enjoyment of and use by the youth 325 of Lexington. Mr. Lynch presented the Chairman with a copy of the instrument setting forth the purposes of the corporation. The fund is to be expended solely for the benefit of the children of Lexington of both sexes for recreational, educational, entertainment, etc. Then by Mr. Hayden' s will he left the residue of his estate to the corporation so the fund is to be administered by the corporation at alll times to relieve the town of any financial burden of the project at all times. In the will he left 61,000,000 in trust for his wife. Upon her death that comes into the cor- poration too., It is to be used with the pro- vision that no more than 140% of the principal shall be used for the building and 60% for main- tenance to provide entertainment and instruction. He then says in his will, and this is nothing binding on the town, "It is my hope that the Town of Lexington will provide the land neces- sary and appropriate for such building or build- ings, and I wish that they be located upon or adjacent to the Lexington Centre playground where there seems to be ample space. ' That is pretty much in substance what the man has done for the town. On this land which has never been utilized. Back in 19148 when the town was looking for an elementary school site, it was suggested at that time that the school be located on part of this property. The Chair- man of the Board of Selectmen appointed a com- mittee to call on Mr. Hayden and they did. Robert Holt, Mr. Potter and Harry Wheeler called on Mr. Hayden to see if he would permit the town to locate a school on this property. The com- mittee reported back to the Town Meeting Mn. Hayden said he did not want a school located there because of the very substantial plans he had for the town. Then there was a vote at the meeting to have the town take such land as they needed for a school by eminent domain, to fore- close any right Mr. Hayden had, and that was de- feated. Now we come to the section where the corporation, in following his wishes, would like to get this tract back and break ground in June this year. 326 The building itself will be something tha which thereis nothing like of thin in the United States. It will be colonial in architecture. It will contain aaswimming pool built to specifications, 75' x 35' , will be tiled and the last word in swimming pool facilities. There will be showers and everything needed in a well equipped pool. There will also b0 a gym which will be ultramodern and equipped with the very finest apparatus. To the left of the swimming pool and gym will be a second- story building for the boys for all boys' ac- tivities. Instructors will be provided for the educational information and recreation of the boys. To the right of the building, another two-story building will be utilized by girls under instructors at all times. It will all be tied in together. The Hayden Foundation owns a series of these centres throughout New York State. They will have the best available instructors provided. It will be managed and directed by the Hayden Corporation which is a charitable organization and it will be for the children of Lexington and will not cost the town a penny. If they break ground in June, it will be ready in a year.There is a lot of ledge up there. Sound- ings and borings have been made. The land is buildable. To build on the part next to the playground .might be expensive but they are willing to take that. They plan to have an outdoor skating rink, not enclosed, with a field house next to it which will be heated and will have lockers and maybe a television and record player. There will be ski slides and toboggan slides. On the land we realize there is a bit of a problem. We would like, as far as the Town Meeting -goes, to have this a proposition for the Board of Selectmen. I would prefer not to have anyone get up and talk about it one way or another at the Town Meeting. We will be there to answer questions if we can. We think the Board of Selectmen should present it to the town. The Chairman should present it to Town Meeting to see if the town will permit this land to revert to the Hayden Corporation. Chairman;. You will .allow such an explanation as you are giving now to the Town Meeting? 327 Lynch: Yes, but I think it should come from the Chairman of the Board whom we will brief. Mr. Baum and I will be there. I think it will come with better grace from the Chairman of the Board. The prob- lem of getting the land back can be worked out by Harold and I. Are there any questions? Chairman: You talk about buildings. The toboggan slide and skating rink, are they called buildings? Lynch; It will be a part of the recreation plan. There will be provided a parking area for about 600 cars. Cars will be on the property and no parking . problem at all. These facilities will be available to Adult groups in town, church groups and fraternal organizations. In the future the corporation may put up an auditorium to seat 1500 people and that will be available to all church groups and frat- ernal organizations free. Saumz We have heard from various groups in town who understood what we had in mind and have petitioned us for some space in these buildings. At the moment we have in mind one building which will be a boys' group and a girls' group which will be under one roof. That is the immediate program. James: How does the location and the reversion of the land affect the proposed by-pass road? Lynch: I don't know what -the :th4nkingof the town is on that. Jaquith: At the moment Worthen Road extension is indefinite. Very soon it will tie in the land Baskin has pur- chased. It will be very helpful to the Planning Board if we could have some sort of a plot plan of where you propose to put the buildings in the area so we can see how it will tie in. Saum: We too would be concerned because we would not want a highway to bisect the centre. Worthen Road was discussed as laid out on a plan presented by Mr. Lynch. Lynch: We want to co-operate with the Town in every way but it does not seem prudent to have a main highway in the center of the playground. x PZ C-1 Saum: The present plan is to place the first build- ing on top of the plateau. It is not definite at the moment. Stone & Webster find plenty of ledge on the property up on the hill. If we find-We 'can utilize the top of the property and can have it, it will cost $50,000 to spread the ledge around. The parking area will be pabt of that six or seven acres. We would like that to be all part of one plan. Chairman: The road will not go through that hill. Saum: If we could have six or eight acres on the plateau levelled we could arrange to come in off Lincoln Street here. The immediate plan, if it works out, if it is feasible and not too expensive, is to level about five feet off the plateau and provide six or seven acres on the top of the plateau for building, playground and parking area. The future development would be down on the lower level. We would be oDncerned about this road. The building contemplates a membership of 2,000 boys and half that number of girls. It would mean 1,000 children play- ing around in that area. Stevens: It would not interfere with the proposed de- velopment if the road came in along here? Saum: I don't think so at the moment. My concern is that any road there, in our future stages of development, would have to be• such that it would not be hazardous to the children. We might be able to work something out. Lynch: This road might never go through there. What is the thinking of the recreation people on playground facilities regarding a seventy- foot highway going through the heard of play- ground? It does not seem good. Maybe it is the only alternative. Chairman: Couldn' t the road be fenced? James: I would look upon it fenced with an overpass. Jaquith: It would be helpful if part of the parking area could be down here somewhere. It could be used by the Town in connection with athletic acti- vities. 329 w'rvY w•ro <stny �J kiwi Chairman: I think that is a detail that aan be worked out. Maloney: The foundation is willing to co-operate in any way_it can. Stevens: The club house includes gym, swimming pool and all that sort of thing? Lynch: Yes. The thing in the future is the auditorium. Stevens: The only question is apparently this road and there does not seem to be any reason why the road could not fit in to it. Jaquith: If w e -try to swing the road further away would the Hayden Foundation give us the Girl Scout hou ss? Saum: That house is not being used by the Girl Scouts now and it is being rented. Lynch: If it became important for the Town to get the house, it could be worked out. Chairman: I don' t see any difficulty. Maloney: These people are giving us $5,000,000. We are getting pretty small to be concerned about an old house. Chairman: I think the enthusiasm would be so much that any small item such as this would never come. Stevens: The only question would be what will this do to the road and you don' t need any details. Just tell them that the road will go through. Lynch: I think we should give the story to Alan immed- iately. Saum: After we have completed the first step of a boys' and girls' club we will know what it costs us. After we have titled to the property'j we have to let out the bids. We would like to break ground in June. As a rough guess, the building would be ready in nine months or a year. Stevens: Any public utility problems? 330 Maloney: No. 1 Saum: We contemplate a flush pool. The water runs off the pool and through grates. It goes through a filter system and comes back into the pool as clean as drinking water. Chairman: Hary ld, do you see any technical difficulties? Stevens: None at all. Lynch: When should we release publicity? Baum: Would it be well for Alan to stop in at our office one day and discuss it with one of our directors and get the f irst-hand story? The meeting adjourned at 10:20 A. M. A true record, Attest: le , Se ectme4 .