Greene’s Field, MBTA Draw Praise, But No Senior Center Blessing Yet

To arrive at a final recommendation on senior center sites, the Senior Center Exploratory Committee (SCEC) traveled full circle and took to the current Center to make their decision. However, when the clock struck 9 o'clock, a site had yet to be announced and the decision was made to finish the meeting on Monday.

Meeting in the Yellow Room of the Stephen Palmer building on Sept.16, the SCEC traveled through a litany of concerns and pros for the remaining sites, but had not yet recommended anything by meeting's end. Instead, talks will officially resume on Sept. 20, a day ahead of the committee appearing before the Board of Selectmen.

Committee co-chair Jim Healy opened Thursday evening with a bit of foreshadowing by saying, "Tonight is not necessarily the only night to deliberate. But if we can't make a recommendation tonight, we do want to finish our business on Sept. 20."

Steve Popper of the Permanent Public Building Committee and Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick were also on hand Thursday night, both relating that the process for whichever site is selected is likely to take 32 months from "the start of the design to the opening of doors," Popper said.

Healy stated that one of his concerns included finding out what dollar amount can "reasonably be earmarked to build a senior center under an amount that wouldn't require an override." Fitzpatrick said that there are a "couple of things in play" that would have to be sorted out before the answer to that question is found, including a recent $3 million recommendation that the town made for work on the Pollard Middle School roof.

An override, in fact, was one of the hot topics Thursday as the committee batted around the idea that members of the town may not approve a site if it required such a measure.

"Everyone says that an override will pass and that we need to give the seniors what they deserve, but what if it doesn't pass?" asked committee member Matt Borelli.

Borelli suggested that one would have to "be creative" in regard to how to best get the dollar amount down. Some committee members have suggested at other meetings that the recommended 20,000 sq. ft. plan be downsized to accommodate such a request.

Healy backed up Borelli's worry by stating, "I'm very concerned about an override failing. This is a horrible economy and people are already having a hard time paying their property taxes and now we're going to say, 'Let's tax more?'"

In response to a raised concern that a particular site may have to either see an override or not be selected at all, co-chair Denise Garlick said that it should be possible to build within certain confines.

"We're having a discussion on what flexibility is available," she said. "I think that it's very important to make a recommendation based on cost and I don't want to gamble the Senior Center. We have to have sensitivity to what's going on in town and try to avoid an override."

Asked if any members wanted to eliminate a site that night, committee member Larry Cummings pushed for taking Rosemary off the table.

"I don't think there's been much enthusiasm for it lately," he said, "and there are unknown costs associated with it."

While a big fan of the location itself, Garlick believes that Rosemary is the very reason the committee is discussing cost ahead of a recommendation.

"It's a great site to be developed, but it has lost favor because it is so expensive," she said.

Healy said that the site he is "least enamored with" is Grover, a site that, according to committee member Colleen Schaller, is one in which the Council on Aging is asking not be considered any longer.

"I don't like renovation (projects), it's usually a disaster," Healy said of Grover. "There's also no possibility for expansion, and I'm very concerned about the traffic and the ability to fit programs within the space that's there."

Though committee member and selectman Moe Handel agreed that traffic issues in the Grover area are "legitimate," he believes that they can be managed, feeling that a senior center would have the least amount of impact on the area out of other projects that could inhabit the space. He also said that the current Grover building is a "mess" and a senior center would offer the chance to improve conditions.

"These issues won't be addressed unless it has a new use. School officials won't be there forever," Handel said.

Committee member Mary Elizabeth Weadock, though, believes that one of the high traffic times in the area is currently between 2 and 3 p.m. when St. Joseph's Elementary lets out, a time that she also calls "prime time for Senior Center activities." Borelli also related that he didn't think a new senior center should have to "mitigate traffic to that extent."

Meanwhile, Cummings said that traffic and parking would be issues in any downtown site, not simply at Grover.

"Needham is no longer a village," he said.

Controversy again ensued when talk turned to the Greene's Field site. Handel called it the "most divisive and contentious site on the table," and Healy was quick to state that he did not see a difference between Greene's and the Grover site in terms of public reception.

"Greene's is likely to get the most contention," Handel repeated. "You can keep it on the table, but it's not going anywhere."

Healy retorted, "Because you know that you and two other members of the Board of Selectmen won't pass it?"

"I'm not saying that," said Handel. "But I don't know if it would pass through Town Meeting."

Healy believes the T site and Greene's Field to be assets due to the fact that they present flat land and cheaper developmental opportunities. He said that he likes the outdoor space Greene's presents, but that traffic concerns would have to be addressed.

"I use the field, but the concept to share it, I think, is a terrific idea," said Borelli.

In general, sentiment was high for the MBTA Heights site, with Healy saying that the "greatest value is that it doesn't seem to have that much neighbor opposition."

Added committee member Marianne Cooley, "My preference is the T site. I like that the neighborhood seems to welcome it, and I like its adjacency to a drug store, a coffee shop…all of those little things."

Additionally, Borelli added his approval of the site and Garlick sees it as a "great benefit for the Heights area." Committee member Jay Kaplan, meanwhile, believes that the site is the one most likely to pass through Town Meeting.

While a couple of sites, namely Greene's Field and the MBTA, seem to have drawn the most favor on Thursday, no official recommendations were made. Instead, that part of the process will happen Monday as the SCEC meets one last time to deliberate at 7 p.m. A location is yet to be named.