Special Session Schedule To Air Latest CFAL Plans

CHATHAM – The select board has scheduled a special meeting to review the latest plans and financial projections for the renovation of the Center for Active Living.

 The board will hear a presentation with the most recent information about the project on Wednesday, Dec. 3, at 6:30 p.m. at the annex.

 According to the latest estimates presented at the Center for Active Living (CFAL) working group meeting Nov. 19, renovation and expansion of the Stony Hill Road facility will cost $6,803,804, $1.8 million more than was appropriated for the project at May’s annual town meeting. 

 The working group has been meeting weekly to refine the plans to find savings while ensuring that the renovation and expansion will accommodate council on aging programs both now and in the future. The group was slated to meet yesterday (Nov. 26) to finalize its recommendations prior to the select board meeting.

Select Board Chair Dean Nicastro said Nov. 18 that he preferred to have the latest proposal come before the board in a special session rather than at its regular weekly meeting. “I expect it will take some time,” he said.

The complexity was evident in the working group’s Nov. 19 meeting, which included a review of septic options for the expanded facility along with options for financing the additional funding.

The budget includes $75,000 for a new septic system at the 193 Stony Hill Road property, but the working group heard from Public Works Director Rob Faley about the possibility of tying into the town’s sewer system. A “very rough ballpark” cost of running the sewer line about 400 feet from the corner of Stony Hill Road and Enterprise Drive would be about $300,000 to $400,000, he said. That area is currently not scheduled to be sewered until the end of the decade, he said, and currently no funding or permits exist for expanding the sewer down Stony Hill Road.

Current plans call for an annual town meeting article to fund the additional cost for the CFAL project, and the sewer extension could also be a separate article, said Town Manager Jill Goldsmith. Faley said a survey and design could probably be done using existing funds in order to have a more solid cost estimate for town meeting.

 “It’s pretty simple construction, it just has to go through the process,” he said. Members of the working group supported moving ahead with doing the preliminary work for a sewer connection.

The current estimate for the renovation and expansion project includes $5,199,000 in “hard” construction costs, Owners Project Manager Rick Pomroy said. So-called “soft costs,” including designs, furnishings and modernization of the facility’s elevator, add another $1.1 million. Another $500,000 is included for contingencies.

That leaves an additional $1,803,804 to be raised. Finance Director Carrie Mazerolle said financing options include borrowing the money through a debt exclusion or capital exclusion, using free cash or reallocating funds remaining in previously approved town meeting articles. She recommended a capital exclusion for $1.5 million and using $535,00 in free cash and closed-out articles. That would add 12 cents to the tax rate, which translates to about $150 for a home assessed at $1.25 million. A capital exclusion article would require a two-thirds vote to pass and would also have to pass on a town election ballot, but only by a majority vote.

The figures could change depending on bids, said Pomroy. Should the select board give the project the go-ahead at its Dec. 3 meeting, two months will be needed to prepare documents for bidding. Bids should be in hand by April 3, he said, so that town meeting has an exact cost figure. Public meetings will be held in April to present the bid costs and plans, he added.

If town meeting approves the funding, preparations to move CFAL offices and programs to the community center can begin in early June, and the contractor can get permits in place and begin mobilization by July 1.

 “It works,” Pomroy said of the timing. “It’s very tight.”

Construction is expected to take 10 to 12 months, with an end date in June 2027.