By Lynne Smith
(Editor’s note: writer Lynne Smith indicates her personal opinions in italics.)
The March 22 evening meeting of the Community Center Building Committee was disappointing for public attendees, many of whom hoped to hear detail on programming needs, alternate spaces, and a process for soliciting community opinion. About 30 Lincoln residents attended the meeting virtually and in person and were paying close attention. Committee Chair Sarah Chester started the meeting at 7 p.m. and opened it for public comments around 8 p.m.
The topics covered include the following.
- Timeline — The committee intends to have ICON, the architectural firm, design several options by June, spend the summer refining costs, and then do further review and refinement prior to a vote for a preferred choice at a fall 2023 Special Town Meeting. Apparently, much work has been happening behind the scenes. Now that the public is engaged, the committee needs to issue updates at the beginning of each meeting. It is late March and the timing seems tight for bringing the town into the discussion.
- Community survey and forum — The committee has not prepared a survey but hopes to create, conduct, analyze, and get the results back in time for a community forum on April 25. As Alison Taunton-Rigby of the Communications Subcommittee pointed out, these steps take about one month. During the meeting, the committee brainstormed whom to survey and what sorts of things would be included: Lincoln values, programming wishes, open-ended comments, raw feelings.
The subcommittee agreed to draft the survey at a public meeting on Wednesday, March 29 and mentioned that several other surveys would be conducted this spring, although no specifics were pinned down. There was little discussion of what the community forum would include other than a report by ICON and the survey results. When the meeting opened up to the public, attendees requested that the survey and the forum be used to give the community an opportunity to comment. This suddenly seemed to remind the committee that residents had opinions that should be solicited, both in survey form and in public meetings. To be meaningful, a survey needs thoughtful content and a large sample and a forum needs to attract a large audience. Both take time.
- “Stakeholders” and “open mic” night — The CCBC frequently used the term “stakeholders,” meaning COA&HS, Parks and Recreation Department (PRD), the School Committee, and liaisons from the Historical and Conservation Commissions. During public discussion, a consensus was reached that town organizations — such as the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee and the Lincoln Family Association — and ordinary citizens are also stakeholders. Consequently, the committee decided to give representatives from 20-30 town organizations and members of the public the opportunity to speak for two minutes or submit a written brief at the CCBC’s April 4 meeting. Assistant Town Administrator Dan Pereira offered to invite these representatives and post the invitation for the public. It appears that the committee will begin soliciting public outreach in April — tight timing as it is already late March.
- Programming needs and alternate spaces — The committee presented no analysis of programming needs. At the prior meeting on March 8, [Select Board member] Jonathan Dwyer and [Town Administrator] Tim Higgins reassured some of us that the committee would explore “existing available spaces” for programs, and the committee agreed that an inventory of potential available spaces would aid the architect. At this meeting, however, no mention was made of this until the public discussion. ICON architect Ned Collier said that Chester graciously gave him a “driving tour” of the school and other buildings around town. That sounds insufficient to the expressed desire of many people in town to see a full evaluation of these spaces and how they might be used to flesh out the program needs. It is time for the committee to share a programing analysis with the town as well as with the architect.
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I believe a community center is more than a building — it is a coordinated set of activities and places for residents, both young and old. I want to see an analysis of programming needs and an inventory of available spaces that might serve those needs. I would vote for investment in a modest new building on the Hartwell site. I would also vote for an additional sum allocated to improvements/modifications to make existing spaces in Bemis Hall, Pierce House, and the Hartwell Pods more suitable for programs.
The CCBC and town staff may be hard at work on the community center, but this work needs to be more transparent to the town. Public meeting dates need to be announced broadly. I am on the CCBC mailing list but have yet to receive information about scheduled meetings. I urge residents to respond to the survey and attend the April 4 and April 25 meetings, when these opportunities are announced. I urge the committee to seek broad public input from the town prior to the vote next fall.
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