After Town Meeting flop, committee considers other options for Longmeadow Adult Center

Nov. 18, 2016 | Chris Goudreau
cgoudreau@thereminder.com

LONGMEADOW – Now that the dust has settled from a failed Town Meeting vote to fund $200,000 in additional site analysis for a new Adult Center at Bliss Park, the Adult Center Building Committee has made investigating the feasibility of utilizing the existing site its top priority.  

Adult Center Building Committee Chair Marybeth Bergeron told Reminder Publications although the committee is reviewing the existing parcel at Greenwood Park, she believes there would be many difficulties building a new center at the location.

“We felt that there was somewhat of a mandate from the Town Meeting to attempt to locate at it the existing site at Greenwood Park, however that is laden with problems in terms of siting and building there because we basically have two parcels – we have a nine acre parcel that is protected, we believe, under Article 97, and we have another that is town owned land that was acquired for the [Greenwood Center] when it was originally built back in the 1960s.”

According to Article 97, in order for parklands or open space to be developed the Park Board would need to grant unanimous approval, and Town Meeting as well as the state legislature would need to approve the use by a two-thirds majority.

The existing location would need additional space for programs and functions at the Adult Center, but for parking as well, she explained.  

The elder population in Longmeadow has increased drastically in just six years, she added. In 2010, there were 2,700 seniors in the town. As of 2016, that number amounts to more than 4,450 people. The senior population in the community is expected to grow even more in the future.

“There is not only insufficient meeting space, but the parking has become very problematic on days when the more popular activities are scheduled,” Bergeron said. “The town relies heavily on the use of the building, most recently for the early voting for the election. The building’s total square footage is over 30,000 square feet. Many people believe that the senior center occupies the entire building, when in fact, the center is only about 8,000 square feet, and 1,500 square feet is hallway. For example, there has been an 80 percent increase in Meals on Wheels alone since 2000.”

Bergeron said if land at Greenwood Park were utilized for the project compensatory land would need to be given to the Park Department to make up for that loss.

“That site itself is very problematic, however we are going to attempt to see what we can do with that site and I think that what our primary focus is at this point,” she noted.

She said she anticipates presenting the committee’s preliminary findings about the Greenwood Park parcels to the Select Board at its Nov. 21 meeting.

“There are other sites in town, however, politically we believe those other sites would be very difficult to achieve as was Bliss Park,” Bergeron noted. “Although, in our minds, Bliss Park is still the best location for a senior center in the town of Longmeadow. Clearly the voters have spoken and we’re more than willing to live with that, obviously. But also consider from that meeting that we need to try to make something work at Greenwood. And we will do that – we will try. We are going to make an attempt to make something work at Greenwood, but it’s going to be very complex to make that happen.”

One of the major hurdle for the project is the lack of developable land in Longmeadow, she explained. The town is mostly built out.

Another site the committee might explore in the future include the water tower property on Academy Drive, but that might also be very difficult to persuade voters to approve because it is located near a residential single family home area.

She added the water tower property contains two parcels, each of which consists of 10 acres of land. The Adult Center project would only need about three to three and a half acres of land.

"We believe that the surrounding neighbors would challenge that as the site,” Bergeron said. “The same thing is true of Turner Park. That’s not literally a park because it was acquired and is town owned land. I think the residents consider it a park and I think we could have the same situation there.”

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