We can all agree that the seniors and the COA need support and we should
come together to find solutions. What gives a lot of us pause is the
current plan, which is focused on building a 16K-20K sq ft facility at a
cost of $15M+ without understanding our true needs (neither current nor
future) nor exploring supplementary options around town to help bring down
the cost. Let's all remember that a building like this will come with its
associated staffing, insurance and operating costs, and we will still need
to invest in upkeep for Bemis/Pierce.
- The concern is not about the numbers fluctuating wildly, because we
haven't even been provided the data to make that assertion. The grave
concern lies on the fact that COA hasn't provided median/average/actual
attendance, despite repeated requests from many of our neighbors and even
CCBC members.
- How can we plan for future growth if we don't know what the current
state is? What do we apply a growth factor to?
- If you look at the little attendance data that is available, quite
a few of the classes are attended by 2-5 people. Yet the current
community
center schemes plan for fitness/activity rooms ranging in size
from ~1,000
to over 2,500 sq ft. How much would attendance have to grow to make
use of all that space?
- Wayland is building a COA/CC that has less square footage than even
the cheapest of our options, even though they have double the number of
people and of seniors. Do we think that our senior population is going to
grow to more than double, and more than Wayland’s?
- This project will (without doubt) impact our property tax bills, which
are currently higher than Lexington, Concord, Carlisle, Wayland, Sudbury
and Bedford.
- If we continue on this path, we will be making the town even more
expensive for those retiring and on fixed income, effectively
driving away
those that we are building for
- This type of thinking of "building for the future" without any data to
support it is what drove us to overbuild the school. Based upon Mass
State Building Standards, the school’s 165K square feet should be able
to host 1,000 students. The architects designed the school
for 650+ students but our enrollment is currently only 550 (PK-8)
*From:* RAandBOB <raand...@earthlink.net>
> *Date:* September 16, 2023 at 2:49:31 PM EDT
> *To:* Lincoln Talk <lincoln@lincolntalk.org>
> *Subject:* *[LincolnTalk] Thoughts on the community center*
>
> A lot of people have expressed concern that the attendance figures at
> the COA vary wildly from day today and from month to month and nobody
> really seems to understand what volume of people we should plan for. Let me
> remind people that the baby boom cohort just turning 70.
>
> Speaking as a person who is about to turn 80, it is often hard to
> visualize what’s going to happen to you over the next 10 years. For
> example, it is hard to believe that you will ever find a time that you
> cannot reach your toenails. Yet that happens! One can spend $60 to go to a
> podiatrist or $10 to go to the podiatrist at COAHS. If one member of a long
> relationship has died, the remaining member often finds that the help
> offered with taxes or with choosing between health plans is vital. I myself
> have just started to take advantage of their exercise programs.
>
> The number of people looking for these services is about to expand rapidly
> as the baby boomers age. Let’s build for the future, not the past.
>
> Ruth Ann
> (She, her, hers)
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