WILBRAHAM – After several months of inactivity, the Senior Center Feasibility Committee is getting back on track. Committee members met with the project’s architect on May 6 to discuss the next steps for the new or renovated senior center project.

Architect John Catlin of Catlin and Petrovick discussed the committee’s top rated site – 758V Main Street, which is located behind Christ the Lutheran Church. He said the site needs to be reviewed based on conservation criteria.

“There’s a couple of issues that we need to be aware of upfront,” he explained. “One is that we have a small brook or stream along the property … If it’s an intermittent brook we have a lot more flexibility than if it’s a stream. If it’s a stream, it comes under a fairly new act …  it’s called the Rivers Act and it involves both federal and state and local people.”

An intermittent brook or stream dries up seasonally due to low rainfall during warmer months, he explained.

He added the setback requirements for the building would be stricter if a stream is located at the site.

The Friends of the Wilbraham Seniors made their intent to purchase the 7.26-acre site for $139,000 public in 2015.

Catlin said the site is also located on a flood plain, which could restrict federal funding for the project.

“The feds don’t fund projects that are on flood plains, but … I don’t think you’re looking for federal money at all,” he noted. “Generally when you do, it’s highly restricted. I would not set that in stone right now. I would say that we would like to research that.”

He added wetlands on the parcel would also have to be examined. He recommended hiring a soils biologist to walk the site and flag wetland areas, which could cost $400 to $500.

Wetlands aren’t entirely defined as areas with high groundwater content, he explained. They are also defined by vegetation.

“We would probably want to check with the town’s Conservation [Commission] to see where they might have in their maps any issues of wetlands,” Catlin said.

He said some of the pros of the site are that traffic congestion is limited and the area has good visibility from the road. The site was also never developed in the past.

Catlin said the committee’s next steps should be to finalize a building program, close on the sale of the site, and to create a cost estimate for construction designs.

The committee also discussed the idea of renovating existing buildings in the town such as Memorial Elementary School, which closed in 2010, and Stony Hill Elementary School.

Several committee members were skeptical about the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District allowing one of the properties to be utilized for a renovated senior center project.

Catlin said during the past several decades he’s only had one renovation project for a senior center that panned out. That building had high utility costs.

He emphasized a need for the project to focus on serving seniors during the next two decades or more.

“Our vision needs to go beyond today,” Catlin noted.

He added inflation also factors into the cost for the project. Currently it costs about $400 to $425 to build one square foot of a building. Six months ago, the cost was about $100 less than that.

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