My Turn: CCBC meetings focus on building size and parking lot

By Lynne Smith

One of the reasons many of us suggested looking at other buildings in town to host programs for seniors was to reduce the size of buildings required on the small Hartwell campus. The space there is precious, especially the green space that hosts the approximately 150 children at LEAP and Magic Garden. Concerns about the size of the buildings and the location of the parking lot were discussed at both the June 13 public forum and the June 14 regular CCBC meeting.

At the public forum, ICON architect Ned Collier presented five site plans illustrating five cost levels. The plans included a variety of buildings: a new two-story building, a new one-story building, and renovations of existing pods. All plans required removal of the existing parking lot and a new one installed at the back of the building. All plans included the same cost of $3.5 million for site work. (Full description of the plans and the meeting included in the Lincoln Squirrel on June 14 and on the Lincoln Community Center website.)

Committee members and public attendees were seeing these plans for the first time and it was a lot to take in. I appreciated the printed version provided to those of us attending in person. For the 35 people on line, it must have been difficult to process so much information. Collier cautioned us that these were not “designs” but site plans.

For those of us who were hoping for a viable low-cost option, the site plan labeled 2A was a good start. The plan called for housing programs in 10,000 square feet located in total renovation of pods A and B. Many in town believe that 9,000 to 10,000 square feet is sufficient for accommodating all the “needed” programs. However, as with all five plans, the parking lot behind the building came at the expense of the green space. Parents of children at LEAP and Magic Garden expressed concern as they realized what the loss of the playing areas would mean to the 150 after-school and 120 preschool children.

At the June 14 meeting, CCBC Chair Sarah Chester announced the agenda as a discussion of the comments from the forum the night before. Instead, committee members spent over an hour discussing the siting of the parking lot but did not reach a consensus decision. The discussion was important, but it should have been conducted in a working group weeks ago with ICON providing topography and other technical information.

The parking discussion delayed a topic that was at the core of the comments at the public forum: the attendance data that supports the required square footage. COA Director Abby Butt has provided a great deal of data but it does not include numbers for “actual attendance.” Serious people in Lincoln are asking for this data because they don’t want to support a building that is larger than required. Susan Taylor commented that this information is critical for answering community questions about the actual size required to meet program needs. Peter von Mertens suggested that these numbers be gathered for COA programs. (PRD attendance data has already been posted on the CCBC website.) Jonathan Dwyer volunteered to help Butt develop these numbers and bring them back to the committee in the next week or two. Collier said that ICON needed confidence that this number was solid for final development of the schematic design.

In the last few minutes of the meeting as it opened to the public, Dennis Picker read a prepared set of comments about ways to reduce the amount of “shared space” by utilizing existing town-owned buildings. He had carefully looked at the programs listed for the COA and concluded that about 1,500 square feet of space could be saved by having several regular programs at the Pierce House and Bemis Hall. Locating these programs off site would mean that a 9,000-to-10,000-square-foot option on the Hartwell campus would not leave out valuable programs. He also proposed minimizing the amount of area devoted to lobby, reception area, and waiting rooms.

We need to consider carefully Picker’s suggestion, COA attendance data, and the location of the parking lot. I believe there is an opportunity to put a new building on the existing footprint of Pod A and leave the parking lot where it is. We could then do a slight remodel of Pod B so it could continue to be used for the maintenance facility and COA and PRD programs. That will save the wonderful green space and play areas at the back of the building. If the parking lot is undisturbed, we might not have to worry about the wetlands setback and the site work would be minimized. A walkway to the Brooks Gym parking lot could be used for additional parking.

The committee will have one more meeting in June to confirm the attendance data, square footage required, and site plans so ICON can proceed with design over the summer. CCBC will schedule one meeting in July and one in August with ICON. These meetings will be posted on the community center website. As always, I urge everyone in town to participate in these meetings before we make a final decision on the community center.

“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.