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Date: 3/7/2023
SOUTHAMPTON — The Ad Hoc Senior Center Feasibility Committee and Abacus Architects conducted a meeting at the William E. Norris School on March 1 to talk about the progress that has been made with the senior center feasibility study.
Background
For the last several months, the town has been working on identifying several properties for a new senior center and public safety complex.
The two projects follow different timelines, but some of the steps have overlapped. The senior center project will need to see quicker progress due to funding requirements. A former resident, David Parsons, passed away last year and bequeathed $2.5 million to the town for the new center. The project design must be completed by May 17, 2023, within two years of Parsons’ death. The Council on Aging was notified in July 2021 about this money.
Southampton eventually hired Abacus Design and Build, a consulting firm out of Boston, who identified several possible sites for both buildings. Specific floor plans were created for possible senior center locations.
Eventually, Reminder Publishing reported in mid-February that three or four properties are most suitable for both the public safety complex and the senior center: 210 College Hwy., 0 College Hwy., 79 Clark St. and 89 Clark St.
The town also acquired further input from residents through a survey to gauge the public’s interest in developing a new senior center. Abacus and the ad hoc committee used the March 1 meeting to advance their preparations for their May 17 deadline.
The March 1 meeting
David Eisen, a company principal at Abacus, told the public during the meeting that the current senior center has myriad problems.
Specifically, the current facility is undersized, cannot accommodate multiple activities, houses an inadequate septic system that prevents them from serving meals, and offices do not allow for privacy during consultation.
The current center also lacks parking, spaces for outdoor activities, and sufficient storage for medical and other equipment.
“The bathrooms don’t even begin meet to contemporary needs and aren’t compliant with building codes,” Eisen added.
According to Eisen, Acabus and the committee made sure to accommodate accessibility by studying locations that were more central to the town. “Many of [the locations] are on Route 10 because that makes it easier to access them,” said Eisen. “[We] looked at publicly-owned spaces, looked at privately-owned spaces.”
Eisen also went over survey results during the meeting to paint a picture of what the public wants on the inside of the proposed new center. According to results from an online survey, 255 people out of 296 who answered said that the current senior center is not sufficient enough.
After taking peoples’ suggestions about what they would like to see in the interior, the committee gathered the evidence and determined which room will hold what and what the projected square footage would be for each. Possible programs in the new center include a game room, multiple offices, an arts and crafts room, an exercise room, a commercial kitchen, a medical equipment storage room and much more.
“We came to the conclusion that 12,000 square feet is what you need to accommodate the needs today and into the foreseeable future,” said Eisen. “There are a series of different spaces accommodating a series of different needs.”
The next steps involve finishing the feasibility study, which include a complete evaluation of the sites and program, complete analysis of each site’s pros and cons, recommended site and building plans and a completed cost analysis.
The town will also pursue other funding opportunities outside of the $2.5 million, whether through a capital campaign, grants that may be available and town funds.
“Having gone through similar processes many times, this is a long process,” said Eisen. “It will cost not just for construction; it will cost for staffing, it will cost for maintenance, and the town needs to be prepared to allocate that.”
Residents can watch the full meeting on the Easthampton Media YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Jc0BLIXwI.