You might recall that the city has embarked on an ambitious project to replace our current, insufficient Senior Center with a new ‘Center for Active Living’ (NewCAL). A project team has been working since last spring to define the programmatic needs and corresponding space requirements for the new center, and presented their findings at a community update meeting on March 14.
Turns out, not surprisingly, that the new center will be significantly larger (10,000 SF) than our current Senior Center and thus requires a larger site – at least 2 acres. The project team is actively assessing potential sites around the city, and it’s clear that choosing a site will be no small feat – to no one’s surprise, we don’t exactly have a lot of open land in Newton.
Beyond the 2 acre size minimum, what are the most important criteria for the site? Should it be centrally located? Easily accessible via public transportation? Close to a village center or other amenities? Or is room for ample parking (or access to ample nearby street parking) more important than any other criteria?
Anyone have a specific site in mind? Let’s discuss!
Is this the senior housing project at the JFK Circle in Nonantum?
turn the Horace Mann into the senior center. Perfect location for seniors
– walks along the brook, into Charles river bike path
– walks around Albemarle field
– sufficient parking
– so so access to MBTA buses depending on where you are going. Express to Boston is just 1 block away which is good for day trips into the city (BSO, Museums etc)
– 0.5 miles to new Washington place. Which I believe has income restricted units which seniors can apply for. Depending on the retail situation, it has the potential to be a pretty decent destination
If the police move from West Newton Square, the old police station would be a good site (existing building or not).
The enhancements coming in the next couple years will make the square more accessible, pedestrian friendly, and better lit than other village centers. The theater is also a good draw.
PS Two acres seems like a big site. It is hard for me to imagine how that would be possible in Newton without sharing part of the land with some other use.
Seems like 2 acres is needed because its not just a senior center. From the website it also
– welcomes all ages
– has a goal to support social equality. So i assume it will also welcome homeless and drug users and anyone else who needs city services
Is this a senior center in name only?
I’m not sure where it should be, but 2 acres seems impossible.
Let’s also focus on the current Senior Center site. That is a landmark historic building in Newtonville, it was rehabbed on the outside using CPA funds I believe, and no matter what it needs to be preserved and protected. Many of us supported Austin Street’s parking lot being transformed into housing and retail, but I would certainly NOT support any material change to the Senior Center site.
And this being Newton, a report in 5 years that it is in poor condition and therefore needs to be torn down is not acceptable either. Maintain the building as well please.
School Department will be relocating the Newton Early Childhood Program into the Horace Mann site. Has the working group looked at the convent portion of Aquinas?
Right now the City is putting together a Climate Action Plan. The new proposed zoning and proposals put forth by the Energy Commission etc. all have achieving the Climate Action goals in their sights. If the City ever wants to achieve the goals it is stating for this, it is going to have to start now, and be modest with how it proceeds in these grandiose promises for a brand new senior center on a 2 acre site with parking for 75 vehicles. There have been several good suggestions for locations in existing buildings in convenient locations put forward by people on this post that the City should look into.
Some really great ideas here so far. My top priority is that it’s near public transportation and easily accessible to seniors no matter which mode of transportation they prefer. I also think @Jane H. brings up a good point about our Climate Action Plan – I would love to see our new Senior Center be net-0 and be fully electric (ie. electric heating).
This should be a great opportunity to show off the new technology, our commitment to responding to climate change, and create a new state of the art senior center that seniors from all walks of life really want to use.
Bryan,
If Newton was really dedicated to responding to climate change, the City should require that ALL new development (residential/commercial) should be net-zero & require roof solar panels… but I guess this would eat into profits for developers, so “nevermind”.
but seriously, why not at least the solar panel requirement? California has already done it
@bugek – I agree with you. And it’s actually quite price competitive to do so now. But this is a thread about the Senior Center, so that’s what I was responding to.
See “New Construction vs. Renovation: Which is Greener?”
https://www.buildings.com/article-details/articleid/14014/title/new-construction-vs-renovation-which-is-greener-
“Contrary to popular belief, the benefits of reusing and renovating buildings outweighed the benefits of constructing new energy-efficient structures. According to the study, a new building that is 30% more efficient than the average building takes 10 to 80 years to overcome the negative climate change impacts resulting from construction. ”
You’ll see this conclusion reached over and over again.
Keep the existing building in Newtonville. Build an additional building for seniors on the Newton Centre site where the unused
building sits on the hill top near the Mason Rice School.
Colleen do you mean “The Hut”. That building is used for After care programs during the school week and there are various other activities that take place there on weekends so it is not unused. It is not a very large building building and is sited on a steep hill. TI would be difficult to build a larger building there due to the steepness of the hill and the small amount of frontage to the road . The land below would likely have some significant restrictions for building due to the creek. There is limited parking on Tyler Terrace.
The Newton Centre Land Area could be used for a Senior Centre.
There are sites which could be converted into a Senior Center. The Hut from what I understand is very old and could be renovated and built next to a new Cal building. Parking is scarce everywhere.
The Newtonville Senior Centre is losing patrons due to scarce available parking on both Walunt and Highland Sts.