The Fairbank Center: To Maintain Or Rebuild

SUDBURY, MA — Since 2012, the town has been evaluating the possibilities for significantly redesigning the Fairbank Community Center, with the Fairbank Task Force created and developing an article for 2016 Town Meeting. The article requesting funds was postponed.

The Task Force reorganized and has since worked on developing a proposal for the Fairbank Center, explains Selectman Pat Brown in the latest Board of Selectmen newsletter.

Exploring several options, the Task Force is assembling budget numbers that include simply maintaining the center, which would require $1.3 million for a new roof in FY2019. A second option is rebuilding the existing building, which would bring the building to code without expanding it.

Building a substantially new facility would be the third option to explore. "The Task Force has been wrestling to propose a single design that meets this goal," writes Brown. "Costs—both capital and operating—are highly dependent on the design proposed. In light of the growing needs of the community and the opportunity to create a more usable community space, the Task Force is attempting to develop consensus on a single sustainable design for a new facility."

Since the project would not be completed in time to address the urgent needs of the Sudbury Public Schools administration, which currently works at the Fairbank building under a roof that leaks, Selectmen are moving ahead with a separate plan to address this.

"The Task Force continues to work on a plan to have all three alternatives above completed and to present a plan for moving forward to Sudbury Annual Town Meeting in the spring of 2018," writes Brown.

Photo via town of Sudbury