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AYER — A big, beautiful, brand new senior center could be in the town’s near future, if voters support it. According to a project proposal headed for Fall Town Meeting, the plans call for construction of a 14,000-square-foot, farmhouse-style building with state-of-the art, senior-friendly features and fixtures, slated for a three-acre site on Bishop Road.
If the measure passes at Town Meeting and voters back it at the ballot box, taxpayers would pay part of the bill for the estimated $13 million project, covered in part by a $10 million municipal bond.
Council on Aging Director Katie Petrossi sketched the projected scenario if the plan is approved. Based on the bond amount, the average tax bill would go up by about $145 annually for the 20-year loan period, she said. Contributions from other sources are expected to close the funding gap.
For example, the town has agreed to kick in cash from existing accounts, and the Community Preservation Committee — which oversees the town’s Community Preservation Act nest egg and recommends projects for funding — has also pledged support in dollars. Petrossi said the CPC has also agreed “verbally” to bankroll an added attraction: pickle board courts outside the building.
Additional sources include Community Development Block Grant funds and state budget earmarks. And the newly-formed Friends of the Ayer Senior Center has launched a fundraising effort.
Designed by Catlin Architecture, the proposed building promises an array of amenities, programs and activities for Ayer’s senior citizens, a group that Petrossi said is projected to total 35% of the town’s population in 10 years.
“America is aging..turnouts at senior centers are larger” she said.
The envisioned move, while still a couple years off if voters greenlight the project, would be a giant step forward from the center’s current quarters, a 1,700-square-foot rented space in the basement of a senior apartment complex near Pirone Park. Basically, it’s one room, divided into sections.
In a recent interview, Petrossi traced the project’s trajectory so far and highlighted the value-added benefits of the proposed new building.
Without a full “commercial” kitchen and no space to add one, meals can’t be cooked in the office for the director and staff at the Senior Center. The daily lunch menu is mostly take-out from local restaurants, delivered. The service is convenient, and the food is good, Petrossi said, but cooking in versus ordering out is more economical and can offer healthier choices.
Space is a big issue. In a large, dedicated building, offices could be sized and situated to fit their uses and different activities could go on at the same time. Meditation in one room, for example, Zumba in another.
Renovated and redecorated a couple of years ago, the space the center has rented since the 1980’s can’t accommodate a full house or the expanded roster of programs, activities and services the new building could offer. Additionally, parking is limited.
In looking for a plot of land to build, the town had narrowed down a list to two town-owned sites — high school land on Washington Street and municipal land on Bishop Road. The search committee chose the latter, a three-acre, wooded lot across from the DPW brush disposal area, part of a much larger parcel owned by the town.
The project plan has already been making the rounds, vetted by town officials, reviewed by town boards and presented at several public forums, Petrossi said. Beyond initial costs for design and construction, she acknowledged that, with more staff and building maintenance, the operating budget would go up. But that’s accounted for and figured into the big picture, she said.
Besides a kitchen, the proposed new building’s specialized features include:
• A “hearing loop” under the floor in the main activity room for folks with hearing aids, linking with those devices so wearers don’t need to turn up the volume while in the room and others won’t notice.
• A hub and spoke design will be applied to the new building, to assist with mobility and make the space “more inviting”;
• Senior-friendly stairs with modified risers, designed to ease stress on joints;
• Ambience. Color contrasts that people with low vision will appreciate;
• A coffee bar, seating areas, a monitor wall, a see-thru, two-sided fireplace in a quiet, parlor-like area; a lounge, rec room, and a glass divider that allows newcomers to scope out what’s going on next door before venturing in;
• Meeting rooms that can accommodate local boards and committees after hours;
• 100 parking spaces and an eye-pleasing exterior that looks more like a house than a facility.
