We have started a robust discussion on LincolnTalk about the new community center. It appears that after spending a short amount of time looking at the other available properties in the town, the committee has decided to only focus resources going forward on building a new facility on the Hartwell campus.
Underused town resources require maintenance
We are a small town with many underused town resources. Some of our town buildings are in need of overdue maintenance. Shouldn’t all town buildings be ADA and handicap accessible?
Bemis needs a refresh and it will require ongoing maintenance even if we build a community center. Shouldn’t we figure out how much this future underused building will cost the town to keep it in good shape? Or are people suggesting the plan is to take it down at some point?
The Pierce House has so much deferred maintenance that it may become unsafe in the near future. The interior reminds me of Miss Havisham’s home from Great Expectations. Without a Pip or Estella to maintain it, we have allowed this generous gift from the Pierce family to fall into major disrepair. As a key town property, we need to properly maintain the Pierce House and the grounds. Why not create a better use of the building than a Wedding Factory?
The world also appears to be going more and more digital. Could some of the space of the town library be re-purposed for other town needs?
At a minimum, the town needs to properly plan for Bemis and Pierce House maintenance (ADA compliance). As a homeowner, I know nothing gets maintained or fixed by itself. Would these spaces meet some, many or most of the needs of COA with some investment?
Time to take a LEAP?
The current LEAP facilities are in dire need of an upgrade. Our brand new school is way too large for our needs; we should investigate options for adding new community usage within it. For most Lincoln residents who are not familiar with the layout,
Lincoln School Interior Final Plan is the final interior plan from the school building committee website. The school’s 165K square feet should be able to host 1,000 students (based upon Mass State Building Standards)It is very important to note that the school was designed for 650+ students and currently has only 550 (PK-8). Enrollment has consistently been going down and we don’t expect a reversal in trend where we would all of sudden have a need for an additional 100 students. We have significantly more classrooms than number of sections. I propose we take a careful look at how our school’s 165K sqft are being used and repurpose some of it to be part of a new LEAP. Leap is 100% after school and could take advantage of all of the bathroom, playgrounds, hvac and other facilities in the school at minimal cost. Some will argue that we cannot use school facilities because projects/materials, etc will be disturbed but there are empty/underutilized spaces given the school was built for a much higher enrollment. If Leap needs even more space, then let’s add space to the school as I believe having after Leap in the school just makes more sense. Adding new space would be materially cheaper than hosting it in a new community center or updating Hartwell B. Reconfiguring some of the existing classroom/hub layout would even be cheaper than any other building option for Leap.
Does a stage belong in the new community center?
Many of you all don’t know this, but the old Smith Gym used to have a stage at the end of the gym. In the new school, the old stage was redesigned as the K-4 Music Room. From the CCBC presentations, one of the users of a new stage at the Community Center would be the Smith School Musical productions. I think it would be much less costly to find a new home for the current Music Room and recreate the Smith Stage in the Smith Gym where it belongs. That will make it more convenient for kids both during school and after school to participate in theatre productions.
“Nice to haves” vs “Must haves”
It appears to me that both COA and Parks and Recs are struggling to justify their space needs. We see programs that are earmarked to be relocated to the new Community Center without historical details of how many people participated in the offering on average (and maximum) in the past year or two. Maybe we can use the “fix-it”/arts and crafts room for more than just arts and crafts and use it more hours of the day.
For instance, does Parks and Rec really need a conference room to host the summer camp staff? I am of the understanding that the summer camp uses the school for bathrooms and inclement weather. Surely, can’t we all agree that having a staff office in the current school during the summer time makes more sense than in the community center?
Another interesting point, vaccine clinics are labeled as “cannot stay” at the First Parish Church and therefore must be relocated to the new community center. I have been to vaccine clinics at the school gym and they have worked flawlessly. I am not sure if First Parish vaccine clinics are different than the ones held at the school, but could they not all continue to be held at the school? Are we suggesting, by labeling these as “cannot stay” that unless we build a community center, we will have to stop vaccine clinics? Does this apply to all the other activities in the “cannot stay” section?
Other thoughts
Wayland, a much larger town than ours is building a new senior center that is much smaller than the proposed plans. Wayland expects to host 200 people at a time in their community center for both COA and Parks and Rec programs in this much smaller building – do we really expect the need for more space in Lincoln? There is a disconnect somewhere that needs to be explained. Let’s not make the same mistake we did with our disproportionately big school and build a 23K+ sqft community center without really understanding what usage it will get.
Having a community center on the Hartwell campus would mean a large increase in traffic. Do we really want all these additional drivers navigating around pre-school Magic Garden children running into the road/parking lot? I assume our school liability insurance would go up as a result. Has anyone investigated this?
I want to be clear, I think we need to invest in the COA. Let’s see if we can make it wonderful while being responsible with our resources and meeting our long standing commitment to our beautiful buildings.
Peter Buchthal
71 Weston Rd.
