The road to replace our aging Senior Center has been a long and rocky one.
- 2018 the NewCal task force was formed, input was solicited, meetings were held, research was done
- June 2019 the NewCal committee released a report listing 16 possible locations with associated pluses/ and minuses.
- Aug 2019 the mayor announced that Ablemarle had been chosen as the new location.
- In Sept 2019 after quite a bit of public alarm and opposition about the proposed Ablemarle site, the mayor announced that she was asking the NewCal Working Group to revisit the siting decision with a particular focus on the existing Senior Center location and the Newton Center triangle
- January 2020 John Hilliards reported in the Globe that the search had now been expanded to seven sites.
- March 2020 the Boston Globe reported that the search was now down to two locations – the existing Senior Center location and the Newton Center triangle
- July 2020 the Council on Aging voted to recommend the new Senior Center stay at its current location
Its now a year later and the Globe has just reported that the NewCal Working Group has released its reports. Their recommendation is that the new Senior Center be built as a replacement, rather than an expansion of the existing Senior Center. They recommend that the much larger (30K-35K sq ft vs the current 11K) new facility be a completely new building while preserving some of the historically significant elements of the existing Senior Center building, specifically mentioning the stain glass windows.
Its not yet clear how far away from the starting line this project still is. If the final location has now indeed decided, the most likely next round of concerns and feedback will be over what exactly will be built on the site. At 3 times the size of the current facility, no matter what design is proposed there’s likely to be strong opinions in the neighborhood, particularly because Newtonville is barely done with scuffles over the size and scope of the recent Orr block (Trio) and Austin Street projects.
There’s still a fair way to go down that long road and no doubt a few more bumps along the way,
IMPORTANT UPDATE – As sometimes happens, it seems I went off half-cocked with this post. I based the post on what I knew but there was quite a bit I didn’t know. Most importantly this project was taken up at last night’s City Council meeting and the proposed plan passed overwhelmingly and enthusiastically.
Maybe just as importantly, there has also already been a very extensive outreach program over many months with both Newtonville residents and businesses. While there have been lots of questions from the neighborhood about the expected issues that come with projects like this (parking, construction questions, etc), overall nearly everyone from the neighborhood, the City Council, and the Council on Aging are enthusiastic about the current plan.
NewCal has indeed been a bit of a long road so far … but that’s if you ignore that there has been a global pandemic in the middle of it.
So the good news is that it sounds like the planning/siting phase of the project is now done and all expectations are that the start of the construction will likely be sooner rather than later.
My apologies for any confusion or alarm I may have unwittingly caused with the original post.
Jerry:
Let me go on the record as being very torn about this project. I understand the need. I understand the location issues. But the reality is that tearing down one of the few remaining historic structures in Newtonville to make it happen is a damn shame. The idea that you can “preserve aspects of the historic structure” is nothing more than a small gesture that means zero. It is a CLASSIC sop. They aren’t preserving anything. You preserve a historic structure but keeping the historic structure. At worst you do so by expanding the back or adding an addition, a la Cabot School. This is just tearing down one of the unique buildings in Newtonville.
A few other points:
1) I wish the city would plan better. We could have combined the senior center with the Austin Street project (many senior centers use housing, especially senior housing, as a way to pay for the construction costs of the senior center.) I was in favor of the Austin Street project, still am. But we artificially limited the height and never even discussed that we’d be trying to build a senior center around the block a few short years later. Hindsight is 20/20, but poor planning lasts forever. We did preserve the parking though. Clearly those extra 50 spaces made a ton of difference (they are always empty). But hey, the kids do enjoy skateboarding in the big open spaces… We should learn from this when we eventually redo the Newton Centre parking lot in 50 years.
2) Eliminating the building also eliminates the pocket park that many of us in Newtonville enjoy. Newton used CPA funds to redo the outside landscaping of the Senior Center a few years ago as well. That was a complete waste now. The new building takes up far more of the lot, and much of the public outdoor space is gone, including, I’m assuming, the trees and shaded areas. What a shame. Funny how we had public protests over portions of Abermale Park that were rarely used, but wipe out a Village pocket park, and no one blinks. The city council better find a way to make the Bram Way pocket park permanent, even if it involves compensating the folks with the right of way easement. Because you just eliminated one of the most pleasant places to sit in Newtonville in the shade.
3) quite a few folks have asked me what we would have done with the building if it was no longer a senior center. Lots of potential uses for that building. New Art Center annex comes to mind. Children’s play space. Rent it to a restaurant. Public meeting rooms would be nice (we have a huge lack of that here). Just because the building was old doesn’t mean it is useless.
4) We better hope the NewMo system works to bring people to this site.
5) as for Newtonville being on board, I think the Area Council is on board. The rest of us, not so much from what I can tell. Lots of folks remember that building as our area library. It’s a damn shame it couldn’t be preserved. But hey, the stained glass windows will remain as a tangible memory of what we lost. That makes the difference, right there.
6) We used eminent domain for Webster Woods, which will end up costing us more than if we had just acquired the site directly a few years ago. Either then, or now via eminent domain, we could have acquired the former synagogue building as well, and used that as a senior center. Hell, we could have built a pool there as well!
This is the politically expedient solution. Doesn’t upset the folks in Newton Centre (parking is important in Newton!), doesn’t upset the folks protecting the parks (parks are important in Newton, we just can’t improve them in any material fashion, and we ignore those parks until there is a threat to change them, then we come to meetings and sing “Big Yellow Taxi”). We rebuild the senior center where it has always been.
I’m glad we will get a senior center redone. But I certainly don’t feel this was the ideal situation. Maybe in Newton we can’t get to innovative solutions anymore. Too many folks willing to fight any change.
And hey, fund the parks. The dog parks and fields continue to be an embarrassment in all seasons.
Hey Fig: I feel your pain, but walk, bike, drive on over to Waban and enjoy some newly repulsed real estate. Waban Common, across from Angier used to be two criss-crossing traffic triangles. When planning Angier, the City deemed that awful traffic pattern to be dangerous and melded the two triangles into a bowtie shaped island. Working under the City’s Adopt A Space program a non profit was formed by Waban residents who raised monies to beautify and maintain the space. It was and remains a true Godsend during the pandemic.But it does defy Mark Twain’s admonition that we should buy land ’cause they’re not making it anymore.
Repurposed…not repulsed. I hate auto correct.
Albemarle Playground is probably the most child-centered park in the city, with a school at either end, one of which uses the field for its P.E. program. In addition, the Gath Pool, multiple playing fields that are used three seasons of the athletic year, and playgrounds suitable for a range of children are in this location so it’s in constant use. The parking is limited as it is, and it has no nearby amenities for seniors.
The Newtonville location is quite the opposite, and the additional parking will make it even more user friendly, so those empty spaces most likely will be needed once the new center opens. In addition to placing the center in a place that naturally engages them (us) in the larger community, it will be close to a supermarket and an expanded pharmacy – amenities seniors need. Users will be just as happy as everyone else to sit at Bram Way for a cup of coffee with a friend.
I too love the current building, but there didn’t seem to be other good locations in our built out city. By a “good location”, I mean one that served the needs of the seniors in the community. Unfortunately, a renovation that kept the totality of the current building would have resulted in inadequate senior services.
I am still disappointed that more serious consideration wasn’t given to the Newton Centre Triangle especially since they decided to build new. There were options other than replacing the parking with an underground garage which would have been very costly.
Sorry for the loss of the current historic building. But I know that the Seniors who use the center didn’t want to have to wait years, so I am glad they will have the new senior center sooner than later
I am very disappointed that we will be tearing down a beautiful historic building, but virtually no one from the public spoke up in favor of keeping it, and every stakeholder group urged us to build a new building. At our meeting on Wednesday I read out loud an email I received several months ago from resident Peggy McLoughlin who wrote:
“Years ago I wrote an article for the TAB on the library as I am a Newtonville resident, a librarian, and I loved the building and did some of my graduate work there and brought my children there.
The building was built just as the city was entering the Depression, but they valued learning enough to make a bold move like building a branch library. The evening of the dedication of the library, Robert Frost read one of his poems. Both stained glass windows on either end of the building were done by Charles Connick a local, famous, stained glass craftsman. His archives are at the BPL. The window closest to Highland is Emily Dickinson’s “There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away.”
Library Journal, the premier reviewing journal for libraries, wrote glowingly of the design of the building. The windows, the arrangement of the interior ,and especially the light as it penetrated the basement level were applauded. It really was a superb architectural jewel in its prime.”
Curious….what’s the annual budget for maintenance and upkeep of NewCal after it’s built?
How would that cost compare fo Northland making room for NewCal there, and then renting/leasing it back to Newton?
I would imagine it would take many, many years of rent to offset the debt of building and maintaining a new, larger senior center…er… NewCal?
Anyone? (How’s that for creative, @Fig?) :-)
A somewhat smaller NewCal where it is being proposed (maybe even saving the historic building) and a second Senior Center at Northland would certainly be very convenient for the growing population of Seniors in Newton! Very creative, Matt
fig nailed it! The Mayor blew it! Newton should have taken the entire Webster Woods property by eminent domain, and used the already developed portion of that property for NewCal. I suggested that many times on V-14 before the taking. It would not only have solved the location for NewCal, it would have precluded BC’s ability to build a large dormitory on that property in the future under the Dover Amendment.
Matt Lai makes a good point about Northland, although it’s a bit off target. He’s right that Newton should have done a lease-back agreement for space at Northland. But in my opinion it should have been done to create a STEM school, rather than for NewCal. If our elected officials had just been a little more savvy, Newton had the chance to add an educational gem to our public school system, on Northland’s dime.