Renovation plans for COA center to be unveiled next week

Next week will be important for the future of the new Canton Senior Center as the architect hired to come up with renovation plans for the recently purchased Knights of Columbus building on Pleasant Street is due to present his recommendations to the Council on Aging, the Building Renovations Committee (BRC), and the Board of Selectmen.

The BRC is due to meet with selectmen next Tuesday, December 18. The meeting is important to the COA, which is anxious to see progress on the new center, and to the selectmen and Capital Planning Committee for future capital planning purposes.

More than 40 percent ($800,000) of the $1.98 million in debt capital spending requests for fiscal year 2014 has been earmarked for renovations to the senior center. However, BRC Chairman Bob McCarthy said they requested that amount “so that they would have a planning number” and that it “may or may not be accurate.”

There is currently $451,000 in the account for building renovations for the Pleasant Street facility. The COA contributed $251,000 through donations received, and last year’s town meeting authorized a $200,000 transfer from the assessors overlay account.

A second transfer of $450,000, also approved at town meeting last May, was used to purchase the Pleasant Street property from the K of C. That figure had come from a previous town meeting appropriation in 2005 for a new senior center that was to be built next to the police station.

The sale of the K of C property was finalized in July, and the entire process has since shifted from the selectmen and COA to the Building Renovations Committee, which has supervised all public building projects in Canton, including the police station and the Canton High School and DPW building renovations.

The BRC has hired Richard Alvord Architects to review the current building, and the COA submitted its wish list of building plans to the BRC and the architect.

According to McCarthy, if the renovation costs exceed the $451,000 that is currently available, then the town would have to go before voters at the next town meeting and request additional money, which could delay construction until at least June.

COA Chairman John Friel, who spearheaded the effort at town meeting along with selectmen, said he is disappointed with the construction progress but is anxious to review the architect’s plans. After town meeting in May, Friel had hoped that the COA, with help from some contractors who volunteered services, would have been ready to move into the facility in September.

However, Selectman John Connolly, who helped the project move through town meeting, said even a small building renovations project like this one needs to go through a formal design and public bidding process.

Friel said he would like to thank the DPW for immediately doing some work on the grounds of the facility following the closing of the sale in July.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Dec 13 2012. Filed under Uncategorized. Both comments and pings are currently closed.