Senior Center Construction Slated for October
Construction of a new Senior Center at Ward Park is slated to begin by October.
Construction of the proposed Senior Center at Ward Park could begin by October.
“We’re hoping to have a contract signed in late September with construction starting in late October," said Joseph Rizza from Courtstreet Architects that will be leading the design.
Construction of a building of this size, proposed at 14,000 square feet, will take roughly a year, he said at the first meeting of the New Senior Center Advisory Committee Thursday.
Work is slated to begin next week at the site. There are known issues with ponding on the fields, said Rizza, so the first steps will be investigating those issues and looking at the water table. This will mean digging in Ward Park to better understand the water table and conditions below the surface.
“We will learn where the water table is and what the actual soil cond are." said Rizza who explained later testing would be done to determine the conditions directly under the building site itself. “We are doing these tests immediately to .... make sure it is in fact a buildable site.”
Ward Park is the only location currently being considered for construction of the new center, officials said Thursday. Depending on the soil conditions, the location of the center could be moved within the park. The center had been planned for where the ice rink was located this winter.
The location at the park has been contested by neighbors and Marlborough residents who feel it will take away from the park. The land has already been freed up for construction of a senior center.
S Burke
12:58 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
Please find another location. It's sad your taking away such a big chunk of the park from our children for another building. Once the snow is gone the park is used for youth sports clear into the fall. Where will the Wildcats store their football equipment? Taking away the snack shack is also taking away money from the youth programs, not to mention you'll be taking away the bathrooms with running water. By taking away part of the park you'll be hurting the Youth Sports programs. They don't have a lot of money to be paying 4 Kicks or Kelleher Field every week. I don't see how this new design is going to work with the amount of parking that the sports need. There are plenty of building around that can be fixed up to be a Senior Center. There's not a lot of Parks for our children. Please keep Marlboro a fun place for our kids to grow up and have a place on this side of town to exercise and continue to play their team sports at.
Ripe Trade
2:19 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
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resident
11:45 am on Saturday, March 23, 2013
Make a better decision. Putting a building anywhere on what's left of Ward Park land will not only take space away from Today's families/youth, but from ALL future generations of Marlborough's families/youth. The city needs to make smart choices to preserve its gems while developing more appropriately. Take time to find the best place for our senior center, not a park that is intended for and used by youth.
Disillusioned
10:51 am on Sunday, March 24, 2013
The seniors will get whatever they want because they vote. That senior apartment building on Main St. is an easy stop for every politician in the city and they (the politicians) will cater to the seniors' every whim regardless of the impact to the tax payers and other citizens who are impacted by the decisions made to placate this specific group. We keep hearing about the investment that needs to be made in today's youth except when it may cost a politician a vote. Taking a piece of Ward Park with the probability of losing more of it to "senior center expansion" is taking space used for the activities that we encourage our kids to do and they don't need a damn permit every time they want to kick a ball around or play a little baseball. Use your heads and find another space for the senior center.
resident
5:31 pm on Sunday, March 24, 2013
Maybe it will be different this time. I've read that 80% of residents are opposed to taking away this public use park land. With so many opposed, the politicians won't have enough just relying on the senior vote. I think re-election will be an uphill battle for politicians supporting this project.