Thanks for this Karla. Curiously however, was the following a consensus statement or something else?
‘* the building of a $90M+ oversized school with its significant burden to the town taxpayers and dwindling activity in Lincoln Station ‘* *Vic* On Thu, May 11, 2023 at 6:24 PM Karla Gravis <[email protected]> wrote: > I would like to add a different point of view to some points mentioned in > previous threads: > > *a) "The overwhelming choice of the large group of participants was to > have the Center at Hartwell."* > > Let’s look at the history around the “vote”: > > > - At a State of the Town meeting in 2015 - eight (8) years ago - > attendees were given 2 dots > - They could put their dots on two different choices or they could > double down on their first choice > - ALL choices given were ONLY about locating everything (for both > Parks and Rec and COA) in one building > - ALL choices were of equivalent cost (including those at Pierce > House) because they all assumed new construction > - NO choices were available that allowed for expressing preference for > a combination of sites > - 300 dots were placed, which means 150 out of the tax paying > population expressed their preference > > I will leave to the reader’s interpretation if 150 out of a population of > ~5K is an “overwhelming” majority, especially given this was 8 years ago. I > will offer an alternative interpretation: IF everything has to be in one > place, all together in one building, the majority of the 150 people > attending that meeting expressed a preference for Hartwell. *We do not > know what the results of the poll would have been if hybrid choices had > been made available.* > > > *b) “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”* > > > - Again, the previous analysis was done eight years ago > - It only looked at options where both Parks and Rec and COA were > combined – “monolithic” approach. Not sure we can consider this > "exhaustive". > - The Pierce House proposal had an inflated cost because it assumed we > needed a lot of additional square footage given the proposals were all for > one single building to house both Parks and Rec and COA. > - Pierce House was never objectively disqualified, but simply passed > over when presented with a much cheaper Hartwell proposal since the Pierce > House option included the need to build a lot of space. Well, that Hartwell > proposal is no longer much cheaper, and I am not sure why we cannot revisit > the option of remodeling Pierce House for some of our activities. > > *c) “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.”* > > > - The motion that was approved included the wording: “for the Hartwell > Complex supplemented or not with existing available town space” so there is > nothing that precludes the CCBC from looking at other sites. > - From the extensive debate that happened in the lead-up to that > motion and the recent Lincolntalk conversations, it seems that many of us > thought that the CCBC would actually seriously consider community feedback > of studying additional potential sites. > > *In these past 8 years, many things have changed, including a global > pandemic, the building of a $90M+ oversized school with its significant > burden to the town taxpayers and dwindling activity in Lincoln Station. The > Community Center is a huge project for a town our size, and we should be > looking for consensus and not limiting ourselves to only one location based > on the choice of 150 people in 2015.* > -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to [email protected]. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > >
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