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Date: 9/6/2023
WILBRAHAM — The Wilbraham Select Board heard a report from CHA Consulting and BerryDunn, two firms that have been conducting a study on the potential use of Memorial School as a recreation center and home of the Recreation Department.
Tom Diehl of BerryDunn and CHA Consulting project manager and landscape architect Mike Moonan and project architect Karl Leabo were hired to assess the building and the community’s wants for the building. Leabo said the school “has great bones” with a “flexible” space that can be “adapted well to a community center.”
The consulting team conducted a survey, stakeholder interviews and community engagement sessions to learn more about what people in Wilbraham wanted for the building and the potential concerns. Some of those concerns included the age of the facility, its limited gymnasium space, sources for funding the project and how much work it would take to make the facility functional.
Participants in the outreach wanted to include areas inside the building for youth and adult fitness spaces as well as areas for dance, theater and the arts, family programs, camp, teen and youth spaces, a full-size gymnasium, yoga, pickleball, rustling, and a basic pool, as well as an indoor playground. They also expressed an interest in the ability to generate revenue using the space, either through retail or rental of the facility.
Outside the building, people said they wanted courts for basketball, volleyball, pickleball, and tennis, as well as fields for soccer, lacrosse, softball and a multi-use field. Community members were also interested in gardens, trailheads and playgrounds.
Using this information, the team created a design for the indoor of the facility that incorporated nearly all of the community requests by using multi-purpose spaces, reconfiguring existing rooms and replacing one wing of the school with a gymnasium housing two full size basketball courts. The only outdoor sport people expressed interest in was tennis. The team also included a synthetic ice rink for year-round skating.
Construction of the facility can either be done in three phases or in one build. Phase 1 would renovate the front of the building to relocate the Recreation Department offices. The existing gymnasium would be expanded by removing the built-in stage. Outside, the front parking area would be renovated, and eight pickleball courts would be built at the rear of the site. This phase would cost an estimated $2.5 million for the work in the facility and $850,000 for the work outside, totaling $3.35 million.
Phase 2 would demolish the west wing of the building, renovate the remaining structure at a cost of $6.5 million, and add the outdoor fields, courts and amenities for $1.5 million. The final phase, an investment of $7.5 million, would see the full-size gymnasium built where the now-demolished west wing stood, and a secondary lobby added to the building. The estimated cost of the entire project would be $18.85 million. Were the town to complete the project at one time, rather than in phases, it would cost between $14-$17.66 million, saving the town at least $1 million.
Moonan said they would add as many environmentally friendly options as possible, including roof-top solar panels, if that was wanted. He emphasized that the town could choose to adopt the full design, have changes made, or not use it at all. Recreation Director Bryan Litz said phase 3 was needed to accomplish the goals identified through the public engagement, but, “it’s not as though we can’t survive without it.”
Select Board member Susan Bunnell commented the focus group and public outreach group attendance was “light.” Litz countered that, stating the team had met one-on-one with stakeholders and that 1,300 people had visited the website for feedback, with 400 of them participating in the survey.
Bunnell said the survey data reflected that people were willing to contribute an additional $3-$10 per month in taxes to fund the recreation center. “Three dollars a month turns into a whole lot of money,” she said. Finance Committee member Marc Ducey said a $5 million debt exclusion is equivalent to an extra $70 per year in taxes for an average $330,000 property. This translates to $5.84 per month.
Ducey also questioned the cost of maintenance, operation and staffing for the facility. Litz told him all that information was included in the report and noted that the wings of the building that would remain intact are already operating for the purpose of limited recreation programming.
Litz said something must be done with Memorial School, whether it is renovated or sold, because it costs the town money to keep the building without utilizing it.
Select Board member Michael Squindo asked about the space for wrestling. Litz said wrestling would take place in what is now the cafeteria and kitchen. Activities such as dance, art and engineering could take place in multi-use rooms. Squindo wanted to know if the town had a relationship with the Scantic Valley YMCA beyond renting space from them for the existing Senior Center and Recreation Department. Litz explained that the Recreation Department uses it two Saturday nights per month.
Squindo asked why the stage would be removed in the first phase but added back in later. Leabo told him taking out the stage would allow them to expand the gymnasium “as much as possible.” If the stage is left in place, Litz said that there would not be a usable gymnasium until stage three. Select Board Chair Theresa Goodrich also expressed concerns about the stage’s removal. “You’re not doing a lot for the arts. Not everyone’s an athlete.”
Moonan commented that the design could include a portable stage that could be taken from storage and set up in the gym in a couple of hours when needed. Leabo agreed that a modular stage would provide flexibility for the space.
Goodrich asked about the placement of the synthetic ice rink in the center of the courtyard created by three exterior building walls, rather than attached to the building. Leabo explained that the placement would allow more light to enter the building and that it was a less expensive option. Moonan also noted that it is adjacent to the teen center. While Goodrich said she preferred real ice, Litz explained that New England weather has become unpredictable, and the number of usable days provided by frozen outdoor rinks has shrunk.
Bunnell asked about the noise from the pickleball courts. As the popularity of pickleball has increased around the country, there have been complaints about the “clack” noise produced by the ball bouncing off players’ paddles.
Leabo said the pickleball courts had been strategically located farthest from the neighborhoods in the area. The phase 3 gymnasium should block some of the sound and with the closest houses 400 feet away, the sound would be about 50 decibels — less than the noise put off by a household refrigerator.
Resident John Hegerty addressed the board. He said voters had approved $300,000 at a Town Meeting in 2021 to build pickleball courts on Stony Hill Road and “the will of the voters was overruled by somebody” because the town wanted to locate the courts at Memorial School. The article passed in spring 2021 transferred $300,000 of funding from the Community Preservation Committee accounts to a recreation complex with the help of grant funds. Litz said the vote was non-binding, and after the complex was not pursued on Stony Hill Road, the money reverted to the Community Preservation Committee. In May of this year, the same amount was again approved to build pickleball courts “at a Wilbraham Recreation location.”
Litz explained, “Memorial School has been on the radar for 10 years.”
He said the soccer courts at Stony Hill Road had been an alternate plan when the Recreation Department believed the school was off the table. Bunnell asked if the existing $300,000 is enough to build the pickleball courts at Memorial School without further funding. Both Litz and Leabo agreed that the town could “put shovels in the ground tomorrow.”
Goodrich insisted that the public be given time to provide feedback on the proposed design before any decisions are made. The full report is available on the town’s website.