Published by The Boston Globe
As next month's deadline for a decision approaches, the search for a new senior center location in Needham got more complicated last week when some residents and officials expressed concerns about one potential site - the Emery Grover building on Highland Avenue.
Residents who live near the Emery Grover building attended the Senior Center Exploratory Committee meeting last Wednesday night to voice concerns over the area’s traffic problems.
William Betcher, a psychiatrist who lives on Oakland Avenue, said he represented the recently formed Committee for Safety in Needham Center at the meeting. The back entrance and parking lot of the Emery Grover building is on Oakland Avenue.
He presented the committee with police reports detailing traffic accidents in the area. Betcher said he and other residents from the area are collecting signatures for a petition asking the committee to conduct a safety study on Emery Grover and other downtown sites.
“It’s the mentality of ‘something is better than nothing,’ but [Emery Grover] is not an adequate solution,” said Betcher. “Expediency seems to be the driving force … the results when people are rushing are not good.”
Betcher said Oakland Avenue is already congested with traffic, and in the ten years he has lived there, three different cars have hit his car while it was parked in his driveway. He said children cross Oakland to reach St. Joseph’s Elementary School on Pickering Street, and elderly drivers would pose a threat to the students’ safety.
“It’s foolish to put these in proximity to each other,” said Betcher.
The sites still in the running other than Emery Grover are the Needham Heights MBTA lot off West street, Greene's Field on Pickering Street, Ridge Hill off Charles River street and Rosemary Hill off Rosemary street.
Another group of Needham residents called “Greene’s Field Forever” say they oppose locating the center at Greene’s Field because doing so would take away one of few open spaces left in town.
Board of Selectmen Chairman John Bulian said he is opposed to Greene’s Field, but he is “open-minded” to the other sites.
Jim Healy, co-chair of the exploratory committee, said the committee’s decision has been complicated by politics among selectmen, some of whom have already decided which sites they are for and against.
“Once we make the report, selectmen have every right to agree or disagree,” said Healy. “Until then, they need to let committee do its work without obstruction. They’re working against the committee they appointed.”
In addition, the Needham Historical Commission voted last week to send a letter to selectmen disapproving of eliminating a historic archway at the entrance of the Emery Grover building to make room for a new center.
The building is 2,100 square feet smaller than the space needed for the senior center, so an architect working on feasibility study for the site estimated that eliminating the archway could create more room, said Rick Hardy, a commission member. The plans would also require a ramp at the front to make the entrance handicap accessible, he said.
“The building is not a historic treasure; the inside is chopped up, and the only historic material left is the historic moulding, which is why the archway is so important,” said Gloria Greis, commission secretary. “The front façade is all it’s got.”
Greis said that although a senior center might be the last potential use for the building, she would like a better solution to save the archway. The building currently houses the Needham Schools administrative offices, though the administration has temporarily vacated the building for routine asbestos abatement, said Charles Laffey, Public Facilities director.
The Senior Center Exploratory Committee will meet with the Board of Selectmen tomorrow night to further discuss the Emery Grover site. They will not make a decision until they receive the town manager’s report on the MBTA lot, additional information on Emery Grover and public comments at a hearing on September 7, said Healy.
Healy said the timeline calls for a decision by the week of Sept. 13 or the following week. He said he expects the committee to make their recommendation to the Selectmen at their meeting on Sept. 28.
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