Thank you Seth for your time and effort preparing such an astute and insightful analysis.
I have been dealing with a very similar situation in Chatham where they also have been going back and forth on a new COA building for the past several years. And this back and forth included the consideration of multiple locations with very similar arguments that I'm hearing here in Lincoln. The main difference being, the Chatham building will be solely for coa, where they already have a community and Rec Center and office space for such in an old, "repurposed" school building. The building they are proposing is 10,995 square feet at a cost of $10,667,994, roughly $10,000 per square foot when it's all said and done. Very similar numbers to the Lincoln proposal. The primary difference here is that Chatham has a year-round population of 6500 which balloons to 30,000 in the warm months and significantly more housing units with a median value quite a bit higher than Lincoln giving them a much much larger tax base. The select board had unanimously supported the location and building, however, at town meeting last week, after two votes, both came back one vote shy of two-thirds majority. Just some food for thought. Kind Regards, Scott Clary 617-968-5769 Oak Knoll Sent from a mobile device - please excuse typos and errors On Tue, May 9, 2023, 10:33 AM Kathy Madison via Lincoln < lincoln@lincolntalk.org> wrote: > Thank you, Seth for outlining the situation in excellent detail. > > From what I’ve heard around town, the community center train has indeed > left the station. Prior assumptions have taken the lead. And that is why so > many folks here have complained about the recent survey, which was not a > survey, but rather a “weigh in on what we’ve already decided” document. > > I’m not against the idea of a CC with space for programs. My son was once > in the LEAP program, and I agree that space for the program would be well > suited to a CC…. Especially given the location that’s been decided upon. > > However, especially given costs and these economic times, our little town > desperately needs more flexibility and intelligent discernment regarding > planning…. In fact, I’m wondering why we don’t still have a community > center PLANNING committee. To have a building committee does feed into the > “done deal” narrative. > > If there can’t be more reasonable approach, we may find that the whole CC > building plan will be voted down entirely. > It may be the only solution. > > Kathy Madison > 781-259-1764 > > On May 9, 2023, at 8:54 AM, Seth Rosen <rosen...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Chris, the last substantive needs analysis was completed 5 years ago. In > my business, we don't assume the work we did 5 years ago is still > relevant today - why would we do so here? The world is different, the > constraints are different, the availability of alternative spaces is > different, the decisions are different. > > We can't talk about new ideas, because we don't have an "investigative" > committee. We have a CCBC... a community center *BUILDING* committee. > That's what they want to do... build a community center. I am simply > suggesting that's not what we should do. > > Now folks will almost certainly chime in and say "we are doing a revised > needs assessment right now as part of the building process." Not really... > because we've started with the assumption that we NEED a new building, and > we are just figuring out how big to make it and how much it should cost. I > think we should start with the assumption that we have a series of problems > that need to be solved and a series of resource constraints to content with. > > I really encourage people to look at what the CCBC themselves have > posted most recently > <https://lincolncommunitycenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-04-25-Lincoln-Community-Center-Programming-DRAFT-4.25.2023.pdf>. > The aspirations have now been "scaled down" from 30,000 square feet (2018) > to 25,000 square feet (today). Wow. Let's take a peak at all of the things > we absolutely "need" that are included in this plan. > > 3,200 square feet for PRD and COA admin, including what appears to > be eight (8) private offices. And this is just admin, no programming. > > <image.png> > > We are currently thinking about building 8,750 square feet of new space, > including a room with a piano and a stage. > > <image.png> > > Now I can sense what might be concerning some folks.... where will the > piano be stored when it is not in use in the 900 square foot piano room? > We have 120 square feet for that, not to worry. > > <image.png> > > Interestingly the only thing that is undersized is LEAP (our after school > program). Which actually needs more space. In theory, LEAP could share > some of these spaces... but as a parent of two LEAP kids, I don't think you > are going to like what the spaces look like after our kids are done with > them from 3pm to 6pm every single day. Fortunately, LEAP does not need > "Class A" office space. What they need is two more large basic rooms that > are up to code, warm in the winter and cool in the summer. A new version > of something akin to what they have right now but more of it would more > than suffice. And they would be elated! > > <image.png> > > I really encourage folks to look at the details of what's being proposed, > because the community center train seems to be leaving the station... > > Best > > Seth > > Seth I Rosen > Cell: 617-771-5602 > Email: rosen...@gmail.com > > > On Tue, May 9, 2023 at 6:45 AM Christopher Eliot <c...@chriseliot.com> > wrote: > >> This sounds like deja vu all over again. Every time this issue comes up, >> people ask for a fresh analysis of the needs and to brainstorm “new” >> ideas. This has been done repeatedly and always gets the same answer. >> >> If someone has a great new idea, please put it forward. It is magical >> thinking to expect that a whole new approach can be discovered at this >> point after so many years of looking for one. >> >> The new building has been studied and reviewed and studied again. The >> constraints of geography and population and budget have all been looked at. >> There are no magic solutions. That is what the town needs. >> >> Now, let’s get on with it. >> >> >> *From: *Seth Rosen <rosen...@gmail.com> >> *Subject: **Re: [LincolnTalk] INF: CCBC Forum Opinion* >> *Date: *May 8, 2023 at 12:20:00 PM EDT >> *To: *Barbara Low <barbara_...@hotmail.com> >> *Cc: *June L Matthews <matth...@mit.edu>, Lynne Smith <ly...@smith.net>, >> Lincoln <lincoln@lincolntalk.org>, Connie Ohlsten <ohls...@comcast.net> >> >> >> Barbara, it seems to me that we could brainstorm solutions to problems >> like that, which I acknowledge do need to be addressed. >> >> Do we really believe that issue (and issues like it) can’t be solved >> without constructing a brand new 8-figure building? That’s our best idea? >> >> The feedback I’m hearing, which I wholeheartedly agree with, is that we >> need a fresh analysis of the needs. Along with a recognition of true >> budget constraints. >> >> Remember though, we’ve authorized the expenditure of $325,000 on >> architectural plans to build a building. And we will get a set of >> architectural plans, because that’s what we’ve asked for. The cheapest >> “option” will be $12.5m… and up from there. >> >> And if we aren’t careful, we’ll build a big building we don’t need and >> can’t afford. It will be underutilized and way oversized. And we’ll have >> to maintain it and the payments on the loan we had to take out to build it. >> >> >> And shortly thereafter we’ll have to make even harder tradeoffs on the >> rest of the capital expenditures coming our way in the near future…. >> >> I hope folks who think this is fiscally irresponsible speak out and show >> up to vote. >> >> Seth >> >> -- >> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >> Browse the archives at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >> Change your subscription settings at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >> >> -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > > > -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > >
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