Politics & Government

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.

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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.”

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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.


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