HARVARD — The report Municipal Buildings Task Force member Ron Ostberg summarized for the selectmen at their March 30 meeting closely matched a previous version, he said, and conclusions were basically the same.
Given another year and with $70,000 to work with, the task force will deliver a definitive report next year, he said.
Charged with assessing town-owned buildings in the center for possible renovation and reuse, the task force began its work by building on information from past initiatives, Ostberg said, such as the town center action plan, waste water treatment study and pending sewer project and energy-use analysis by the Energy Advisory Committee.
They focused on the old library, Town Hall and Hildreth House.
Ostberg said these properties, all historically significant to the town, were eyed from both ends of the spectrum, as financial liabilities or for their potential.
Spreading a town-wide net, the group held brainstorming sessions that drew more than 100 interested folks to three workshops in January, February and March. Their innovative ideas helped frame the direction the task force would take, he said, and should help selectmen make decisions about the buildings in the upcoming year.
“One thing we talked about with volunteers and staff” was reuse of Town Hall and the notion of possibly moving the municipal hub to the old library. Their conclusion was philosophical as well as practical. In a word, it would be inefficient. “We’re into town government, not town offices,” he said. “There’s strong feeling that Town Hall is the place where that should happen.” And that second-floor space that’s now chopped into offices or used for storage should be “liberated.”
The old library offered a “richer” array of options. Some townspeople feel it would make an “ideal community center,” Ostberg said, while others favor using it as a revenue-generator through leases and rentals. “We recommend both,” he said.
To that end, the task force recommendation is to launch a one-year pilot project in which the town’s “energy” will be tested in terms of rejuvenating the fine old building and transforming it into a full-fledged community center. “So far people are very interested,” he said. And the space will be freed up considerably once the two churches now using it for activities while their halls are under construction are “back online,” he said.
When the group honed in on Hildreth House and the Council on Aging, they mulled the possibility of housing a senior center at another location, such as St. Theresa, after the church vacates to a consolidated parish building out of town. The space might be ideal, inside and out, with a kitchen, hall and plenty of parking on a flat site. But there are several unknowns in that vision, Ostberg said, such as when — or even if — the property will be up for sale and whether the town could afford it.
A logical alternative to moving anybody anywhere would be to put existing spaces to better use. That calls for a database, Ostberg said, one that everybody could access and input to. Creating an inventory and scheduling setup would be a worthwhile investment, he said. It would help the task force now and the town later.
Now, the task force needs money to continue its work, and has made its case to the Capital and Finance committees. Specifically, they’ve asked for $70,000 to do it all and come up with “good data” he said, including cost estimates for the three buildings. “We don’t have those numbers now,” he said.
They would also contract for engineering studies. The committee has obtained architectural advice from a volunteer for free, he said. A year from now, “we’ll give you the information you need on these three buildings,” Ostberg said.
