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Date: 11/12/2015
LONGMEADOW – Residents overwhelmingly approved funding for the next phase of design work regarding the construction or renovation of the Adult Center and the creation of a new Department of Public Works (DPW) facility during the Nov. 3 Special Town Meeting.
Voters approved $438,300 for continued engineering and architectural design work for a new DPW complex. Previously, residents voted to fund the project’s feasibility study for $250,000 during the 2014 Special Town Meeting.
Town Manager Stephen Crane, who presented information to residents about the project prior to the vote, said top sites include a section of Wolf Swamp Field and the privately owned Grande Meadows Athletic Club.
The town hired Weston & Sampson to complete the feasibility and the firm vetted 120 town-owned locations in order to develop a recommendation of the project’s top sites, he added.
Weston & Sampson initially recommended an approximately 53,000-square-foot facility, which the town reduced by 20 percent, Crane said. This also brought down the project’s cost by 20 percent.
“We committed ourselves to ringing out absolutely every square foot that wasn’t needed because we know that the more space you have, the more the project is going to cost and we’ve dedicated ourselves to making sure that we keep this project as cost-effective as possible while also meeting the needs of the town today and in 50 years,” he added.
Selectman Alex Grant spoke in opposition of the appropriation, stating that the town currently has a shortage of fields and building a DPW complex at Wolf Swamp Field would result in a significant reduction of field space.
He added that the vote to approve the next phase is an unofficial endorsement of the construction phase of the project.
Grant listed estimates for various proposed projects the town is examining, which included $16 million for a new DPW facility with $233 increase in property taxes, a new Adult Center between $5.9 and $9.3 million with an $85 to $123 per year increase on property taxes financed during a 20-year period.
A proposed new combined middle school would cost approximately $83 million and renovated Williams and Glenbrook Middle Schools is estimated at $111 million, he noted. However, the Massachusetts School Building Authority could reimburse the town up to 75 percent of costs for the project.
All of these proposed projects could increase property taxes $1,000 to $1,300 per year for the average homeowner, Grant said.
“In the spring, we would have another Town Meeting and then we would go to the polls to have to approve a debt override,” he added. “The question is, ‘Are we going to have to do this once for the DPW, are we going to do it again for the [Adult Center], and again for the middle schools? And do we think all of those would pass with those kinds of budget impacts?”
Grant proposed that the town create a capital funding plan in order to prioritize projects and consider “more modest proposals.”
He added that when he toured the existing DPW complex, one of the main complaints with the site was a lack of parking for town vehicles.
“Do we need to spend $15 to $20 million to park trucks?” Grant said. “Is that a cheaper alternative?”
Resident Roger Wojick asked whether abutter input would be sought regarding the project.
Crane responded by stating, “I think [neighborhood input] is a part of our next phase. The first level of [finding a site for] a facility like this in this community is, ‘Where can it even go; all things being equal?’ And that’s a challenge because we are largely built out. We don’t have large shovel-ready parcels to put a place like this.”
Resident Richard Liasse, a member of the Finance Committee, said he believes the project has been “put off” in the past and that should come to an end.
Select Board Chair Richard Foster said the last time the DPW complex was proposed in the 1980s it was shot down by Town Meeting. During that time, studies showed the facility, constructed in the 1930s, needed to be replaced.
Residents also approved $50,000 in free cash in order to complete additional conceptual site plans and building renderings as well as site analyses for a proposed new or renovated Adult Center by a majority vote.
Voters approved $35,000 in funding for the first phase via a citizen’s petition article on the 2014 Annual Town Meeting warrant.
Selectman Mark Gold said it would almost double the $6 to $9 million to construct a new Adult Center behind Turner Park as opposed to renovating the existing location at 231 Maple Road.
“It was on that basis that me, personally, said that, ‘We probably have a site selected here, which is the current site,’” he added.
The Council on Aging has indicated that it would raise funds for the project, he noted.
“You can’t fundraise by saying to people, ‘You got an idea and, oh by the way, we think it’s going to be this site,’” Gold said. “You’ve got to get fancy pictures, you’ve got to get some design [work]. You literally need to do that and some of that costs money. What I was told and why I bought into this article was, ‘Let’s give them every opportunity to go fundraise for this thing.”