Happy faces and shiny shovels at community center ground-breaking

One of several groups of Lincoln residents, officials, designers and builders who wielded shovels at the community center ground-breaking in the Hartwell lot. Among them were Dilla Tingley (third from left), who has served on all six community center committees, and leaders of the organizations that will occupy the new building: Jessica Downing of Parks and Rec (fourth from left), Abigail Butt of the COA&HC (center), and Katie Hawkins of LEAP (far right). Click image for larger view.

The community center construction officially broke ground on October 8 with shiny shovels and dozens of happy town officials and volunteers thanking residents and each other for years of work to make the day happen.

Many members of the past and present groups involved were in attendance. Among the six committees that served over the years were the Community Center Feasibility Study Committee, which issued its report in 2012; the Community Center Planning & Preliminary Design Committee, and the current Community Center Building Committee (CCBC).

“We couldn’t be more pleased and grateful that the project is moving forward here, for nothing else we were running out of acronyms,” joked Town Administrator Tim Higgins.

“I’m especially pleased for our seniors, who agreed to set their needs aside so that the school project could move forward first and continue to make do at Bemis Hall,” Higgins continued. “You won’t need to make do much longer… we expect to be back here in 12 months to cut the ribbon on the new building.”

Though most have agreed for years that the Council on Aging & Human Services needed a new home, planning for the community center (which will also house the Parks and Recreation Department and the Lincoln Extended-day After-school Program) was delayed until the $93 million school project was complete. The CCBC started work in June 2022; voters approved most of the funding for the project in March 2024, and heavy machinery finally arrived this summer to demolish the three Hartwell pods.

A construction banner hung on construction fencing at the ceremony.