December 20, 2023 By Carol Britton Meyer
Last fall, the Select Board narrowed the number of potential sites for a new Center for Active Living (formerly called the Senior Center) to two — an expansion and renovation of the current Town Hall facility and Bare Cove Park.
This week, Town Administrator Tom Mayo updated the Select Board, explaining that a Request for Qualifications has been issued “to help us identify a qualified architect to determine the best possible location,” he said. “In the end, the architect will provide [town officials and citizens — including older residents who use or might use the new facility with] two clear options — including if the current center were to be rebuilt or the BCP site [used], what they might look and feel like and the anticipated cost.”
The current 5,000-square-foot facility at Town Hall could be expanded to 15,000-square feet once the police department moves into the new public safety facility off Rte. 3A currently under construction. Parking issues would also need to be addressed.
A combination of some or all of the existing Bare Cove Park buildings currently used for School Department, DPW, and Hingham Municipal Lighting Plant storage, the Bare Cove Fire Museum, and the South Shore Model Railway Club “could [potentially] be improved to support the Senior Center mission,” Mayo said earlier.
The park — which is managed by the Bare Cove Park Committee — offers access to the water, trail networks, nature programs, and other offerings.
Select Board member Bill Ramsey noted during an earlier discussion that the preference of older residents he had talked with that time appeared to to be split between Bare Cove Park and the current Town Hall location.
The Senior Center Building Committee — which is charged with overseeing the design, engineering, and renovation of the Senior Center at Town Hall or at another location — has been provided with a copy of the RFQ.
Chair Tom Carey said the committee will review the document at its Jan. 9 meeting. “We’ll get our comments and suggestions back to Tom [Mayo] right after that,” he said.
Select Board member Joseph Fisher noted that the committee “is commited to making this happen, and this board is looking forward to it.”
The goal is to bring the project to reality as soon as is feasible. “We’re anxious to get this moving,” Chair Liz Klein said.
“We want to formalize the scope of the project with an architect at the table with the committee, which is integral to the process,” Mayo said.