Community Center Building Committee Project Update – April 19
PROJECT UPDATE
TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2023
A BRIEF HISTORY
A community center in Lincoln has been studied by 4 previous committees and 4 different consulting / architecture firms over the past 10+ years. They have all built off of the public consensus established by the prior committees’ work. That process has led us to our current charge to develop a range of community center design choices and budgets, including options not to exceed 50% and 75% of the estimated $25M design costs of a new building on the Hartwell Campus.
We have partnered with ICON Architecture to help us bring the best possible project options to the Lincoln community in the fall of 2023. If we find consensus, we will request construction funds at Town Meeting 2024.
CCBC WORK TO DATE:
Program Analysis & Development
ICON Architecture has completed its review of the prior Community Center studies, each of which included a careful evaluation of the programmatic needs of the Council on Aging & Human Services, and Parks and Recreation.
Building on those prior studies, ICON is helping the Community Center Building Committee (CCBC) ensure that program assumptions benefit from a fresh look. To this end, ICON has completed its initial interviews of the stakeholder groups who currently occupy space on the Ballfield Road campus, including the School Department, the Parks & Recreation Department, the LEAP after school program, and the Magic Garden pre-school program. They have also spent considerable time with the COA&HS staff to understand their program. Special attention is being paid to pandemic lessons learned about program and space utilization adjustments.
During the CCBC’s April 12th meeting, ICON presented its summary of key takeaways from these stakeholder interviews.
Community Engagement
We hold biweekly public meetings to review the work to date, and make decisions to move forward. The public are always invited to join us, and public comments are always welcome. In additional, we hold community forums, that are larger events expressly designed to solicit community feedback on specific aspects of the project. Approximately 100 people participated, either in-person or remotely, in our April 4th Open Mike night. We appreciate folks taking the time to participate, and for your thoughtful comments and suggestions.
ICON summarized the input received during that Open Mike night in its presentation to CCBC on April 12th.
Thank you to the approximately 300 residents who at last count have completed our Values Survey, which is intended to help inform our building program and design. We will continue to collect your responses through this Friday, April 21! At that point we will compile and share the results during our April 26th meeting.
We have also reached out to over 50 community organizations to gather their thoughts on how a community center may, or may not, impacts them, and will be meeting with many of these organizations directly.
Please put Tuesday, April 25th on your calendars! CCBC will be hosting a public forum at 7:00PM to provide ICON the opportunity to share its initial thinking about potential project concepts, and site configurations. This is a hybrid meeting, held in-person in the Hartwell Multi Purpose Room, or online via zoom.
Satellite Programming
As CCBC and ICON contemplate program and space needs, we are being careful to take into account programming that is currently taking place in various location throughout Town, including Pierce House, Bemis Hall, First Parish, and other locations.
We are in the process of compiling a complete inventory of satellite programs and locations. Our goal is to minimize the need for building new space if existing locations have proven to be suitable and appropriate.
The current version of our Decentralized Programming Inventory is available on the CCBC website.
Site Planning
ICON Architecture presented its initial Hartwell site plan analysis during the CCBC’s April 12th meeting. Their initial analysis confirms wetlands boundaries, site topography, and solar impacts, and other constraints.
With these boundary conditions now identified, the planning team can begin to conceptualize potential building envelopes throughout the Hartwell campus.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
April 25th – Community Forum, 7:00pm in the Hartwell Multi Purpose Room or over Zoom.
April 26th – CCBC Public Meeting, 7:00pm in the Donaldson Room, Town Hall or over Zoom.
May 17 – CCBC Public Meeting, 7:00pm in the Donaldson Room, Town Hall or over Zoom.
May 31 – CCBC Public Meeting, 7:00pm in the Donaldson Room, Town Hall or over Zoom.
DOCUMENTS AND MATERIALS
Can be found on our website at www.LincolnCommunityCenter.com. You can sign up for our notifications there as well!
QUESTIONS?
We always welcome questions at our public meetings and forums, or feel free to contact the Town Administrator’s Office at 781-259-2601.