Did I miss it, or has no one yet quantified useful spaces at St. Anne’s, the
Stone Church, St. Joseph’s and Codman House, nor mentioned whether or not they
have kitchens that could be used to feed groups.
Plus, there are comparable churches in Wayland and Concord, or the
congregations of Temple Shir Tikva, Congregation Or Atid and the Islamic Center
of Boston in Wayland, as well as Kerem Shalom in Concord – all of which have
gathering spaces, chairs, public address systems, and commercial kitchens, and
all of which have unused time in their gathering spaces.
I’d bet ALL of those religious communities would welcome a bit of rent that
would be less expensive than the interest costs of bonding a major new facility
in Lincoln.
Must a COA staffer be present for all COA and community activities? Is the
over-65 crowd not capable of governing its own meeting? Is a baby-sitter
necessary? Are these places not good enough for Lincolnites?
It seems to me there is no lack of community spaces within five miles or 10
minutes of Donelans.
Fred Hopengarten, Esq.
<mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]
Six Willarch Road
<http://www.antennazoning.com/> www.antennazoning.com
Lincoln, MA 01773 781.259.0088
From: Lincoln [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Sara Mattes
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2023 6:43 PM
To: Barbara Low
Cc: Lincoln Talk
Subject: Re: [LincolnTalk] Community Center - more in-depth analysis and
observations. Is it time for a course correction?
I have been using COA programming for years…15 or so.
I have enjoyed multiple programs in multiple settings.
How was it possible then, but not now?
Perhaps there needs to be better space for social and health services, and even
administration, but we need to continue with the use of programming in multiple
locations-spaces and locations used in the past, locations that would be of
good use for the future.
We need to be flexible and creative.
Sara
------
Sara Mattes
On May 10, 2023, at 5:35 PM, Barbara Low <[email protected]> wrote:
With regard to the COA&HS using various locations for their programming, the
staff of the COA&HS cannot easily run programming in multiple locations and
still do the other work they need to do. Programming is a large part of what
the COA&HS does but there is also the social work/counseling/problem solving
aspects of their jobs. Their jobs cannot be well done if they are running from
site to site to manage programming. And Bemis is inadequate for the needs of
the senior citizens -- access to the building, bathroom facilities (the
handicapped bathrooms are in the basement and the large group programming is on
the second floor), and private office space is lacking to have the necessary
confidential meetings.
I think many of the people complaining about the community center are not folks
who are currently using the COA&HS services. Your day will come.
Barbara
_____
From: Lincoln <[email protected]> on behalf of Seth Rosen
<[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2023 4:54 PM
To: Ruth Ann Hendrickson <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [LincolnTalk] Community Center - more in-depth analysis and
observations. Is it time for a course correction?
Ruth Ann - I can’t speak for others, but I am not disagreeing with the location
of the proposed community center. I agree if one was to be built, the Hartwell
location is the optimal one.
I am disagreeing that we need a community center at all. I don’t think we
should build one. Instead I think we should replace the current “pods” with
new ones to accommodate LEAP and PRD. Keep the existing locations and modestly
expand the footprints. Upgrade the other existing facilities to the extent
needed to accommodate our current programming.
That solution is perhaps $5-8m and accomplished all of the mission critical
objectives.
Candidly, looking at the actual list of programs there are only nine (9) things
on there that can’t continue to stay where they are. And those nine things
don’t even close to justify the construction of a new building, in my opinion.
I’d encourage other taxpayers to look at the list and see if they think it
justifies a solution of the scope and scale proposed.
I think the reality is, because of our small size, our town requires the
“decentralized” approach we’ve used to date.
Seth
On May 10, 2023, at 4:09 PM, Ruth Ann Hendrickson <[email protected]>
wrote:
Five years or so ago, the assigned committees did an EXHAUSTIVE search for
potential sites for a new Community Center including multiple open charettes to
discuss locations. The overwhelming choice of the large group of participants
was to have the Center at Hartwell. The motion at town meeting was worded to
develop options for a Center near Hartwell. That is the CCBC's charge. They are
not charged with considering new locations.
If a large group of people want to propose a different location, please form
yourselves into an ad hoc committee and do the work to flesh out your ideas.
You can get a head start by looking at the previous studies that considered
other locations. Then ask the Selects if you can present your findings at the
fall State of the Town Meeting. It is easy to say there are spaces at the Mall.
It is much harder to be specific - which spaces and what needs could be
accommodated there.
I look forward the hearing your proposals. New ideas are always worth
consideration.
Ruth Ann Hendrickson
(She, her)
On 5/10/2023 3:43 PM, Peter Buchthal wrote:
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
<https://lincolnsbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Lincoln-School_1-23-2019-Interior_FINAL.pdf>
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.
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