Below is a copy of the article in the Lincoln Squirrel
<https://lincolnsquirrel.com/2023/08/my-turn-community-center-building-committee-ponders-problems/>that
appeared August 15.
My Turn: Community Center Building Committee ponders problems
August 14, 2023
By Lynne Smith
<https://lincolnsquirrel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/myturn-sm-feb2021.jpg>
The agenda for the August 9 Community Center Building Committee working group
was to be a discussion of the State of the Town presentation on September 30.
However, the issues that have occupied the committee from the very beginning
superseded that discussion: What is a community center for Lincoln? Is it a
new/improved facility that hosts the Council on Aging and Human Services
(COA&HS) and the Parks and Recreation Department (PRD)? Must it also
accommodate Lincoln school needs — and pay for them as well?
CCBC members are grappling with how to add a facility that houses COA&HS to the
Hartwell campus, which already hosts the PRD, LEAP (the after-school program),
the school maintenance workshop, and the Magic Garden preschool (in the
Hartwell Building) and its playground. The busy campus was selected as the site
for a new home for the COA&HS and a renovated PRD in 2018. School program
needs, traffic issues, and green space concerns continue to overwhelm site and
cost considerations.
It is now the middle of August and it is hard to make sense of where the
committee stands. Residents will get a chance to look at a variety of options
at the State of the Town meeting on September 30 and to vote on options at
three different cost points on December 13.
The elephant in the room is the cost — and the taxpayer impact — of the new
building. The cost for the 2018 design was estimated at $25 million in 2022. As
specified in the Special Town Meeting vote
<https://lincolncommunitycenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2022-STM-Final-Motion.pdf>
in November 2022, the CCBC is charged to deliver three options with costs up
to 50%, up to 75%, and up to 100% of $25 million. ICON Architecture has
estimated that the total cost for the 2018 design is now $30 million, which
means that all these options are even more constrained. Select Board member Kim
Bodnar pointed out that costs are likely to increase during the building
process and that requirements will need to be “value engineered” out, as
happened frequently during construction of the $94+ million Lincoln school.
There is no stipulation in the November vote for an increase in price.
In my opinion, the only option that will pass a town vote in December is the
50% one with a cost of up to $12.5 million. The committee should start with
that as a budget, the way most homeowners do, and ask ICON to develop the best
possible outcome. The committee could then rely on town staff and volunteers to
inventory existing town-owned spaces that could host programs that don’t fit on
the Hartwell campus, as called for in the Special Town Meeting vote. Some
spaces might need upgrades, which would lead to reasonable expenses to keep
town buildings in good repair.
CCBC member Alison Taunton-Rigby, with help from other volunteers, revisited
the community centers in towns similar to Lincoln. She presented interesting
findings regarding cost, size, and usage data. While she did not draw
conclusions, she gave committee members a lot to think about. In addition to
this information, it would be useful to know the impact on tax bills for those
communities.
Jonathan Dwyer pointed out that Dennis Picker, an interested and informed
resident, delivered a detailed analysis of how COA&HS and PRD activities could
be accommodated in existing town spaces. I hope the Committee will explore this
analysis given the need to reduce the cost and the space required on the
Hartwell campus.
CCB Chair Sarah Chester ended the long meeting by reminding members of the
continuing schedule of meetings every other week until December 13. She is
committed to keeping residents updated through monthly public forums. This is a
good idea and I hope residents take full advantage of these meetings to make an
informed decision and express opinions. The State of the Town presentation on
September 30 should help everyone understand the possibilities for a new
community center. The next public forum is Wednesday, Aug. 16 at 7:30 p.m. You
can join here
<https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88568397168?pwd=QStkUEZad0JTNmFSaVNPQS85cGtJdz09>.
For interested residents, I recommend the Summary Report of the 2010 Facilities
Coordinating Committee
<https://lincolncommunitycenter.com/documents/2010-final-report/>. The report
documented an excellent effort by town staff and volunteers to survey town
spaces and match them to town activities. In boldface type, the report
concludes: “Building new space incurs a high total cost of ownership
(construction, maintenance and staffing, heating/cooling, etc.). We believe
that the Town’s best opportunity is to improve quality, accessibility and
awareness of existing spaces.”
Lynne Smith
5 Tabor Hill Road
Lincoln, MA 01773
cell: 781-258-1175
ly...@smith.net
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