The Community Life Center Feasibility Study Task Force shared a “timely” update with the Select Board on Wednesday, following a discussion about the need for more recreational space in Swampscott.
The Community Life Center Feasibility Study Task Force was created in January. The group is meant to determine community needs and desires for a multigenerational community life center.
“We’re focused on two primary bandaids. The first is to conduct a general needs assessment in two pieces. The first is whether or not folks in the town want a community life center…and then two if there is significant interest, what does it look like as far as a structure to meet those needs,” Chair Anneka Kumli said. “Really our task is to see what does the community want and then what does the community need.”
Over the summer, the task force issued a request for quotations (RFQ), asking firms to “interact with the town in a pretty substantive way,” according to Kumli.
“We want to really solicit real feedback and understand what people are looking for,” Kumli said.
Based on community input, the selected firm will evaluate potential sites around Swampscott to determine whether existing spaces can meet the needs, be retrofitted, or if a new facility is required, Kumli explained.
The task force received four bids “from four firms we believe are quite qualified,” according to Kumli. Each has been invited to submit a formal proposal.
Proposals are due by the end of the month. The Community Life Center Feasibility Study Task Force plans to select a firm by mid-November, with the evaluation process beginning in December.
“With the goal of them having their entire evaluation complete – this is ambitious but – by mid-April,” Kumli said.
Select Board Member Danielle Leonard called the update “timely,” especially after an earlier discussion with the Recreation Department about a proposed one-year agreement to use the Clarke School to expand programming.
The Recreation Department hopes to expand programming for children and adults by using the now-vacant Clarke School. Director Charlotte Daher de Garcia noted that the department has always “done really, really well” with children’s activities.
“And then there’s a sort of untapped audience: folks that are parents of young children that want to get out at night, learn something new whether it’s a craft or workshop; and then there’s other folks that are a little bit older where the Senior Center might not be appropriate for them or perhaps they might not think of themselves as a senior where they might be a senior, so I really want to build upon the programming,” Daher de Garcia said. “I need the space to do it.”
Leonard said the timing “really matches up nicely.”
“We would not only include the Senior Center. We would include the veterans. We would want to make sure that this is a community life center that benefits all ages, of all interests,” Community Life Center Feasibility Study Task Force Member Sheryl Levenson said. “That would actually free up the Senior Center.”
During the high school planning process, the idea of sharing space with the Senior Center emerged to help promote the project. Initial plans included shared use of the cafeteria, dance studio, and weight room, according to Aging Services Director Heidi Whear.
To meet a wide range of needs, the Senior Center space is constantly adapted. The dining room also serves as an exercise or conference space. Activities include creative writing, yoga, chair pilates, knitting, cribbage, art club, bingo, and mahjong.
“The dream (for the new space) is that it’s not just for seniors,” Whear previously told the Swampscott Tides. “The dream is that it’s intergenerational.”
