Board Endorses CFAL Renovation Plan; COA, Community Center Would Share Space During Construction

CHATHAM – The select board has voted to support a plan to renovate and slightly expand the Center for Active Living (CFAL) at 193 Stony Hill Rd., and will bring the matter before voters at the May annual town meeting.

 The board’s unanimous vote is contingent upon endorsement by the council on aging board at its Jan. 21 meeting. A majority of COA board members have already said they support the project.

 Kurt Raber of Catalyst Architecture and Interiors presented the revised plan to the select board on Jan. 7, saying it was based on one of the options presented earlier last year. The design includes some interior improvements, an addition on the far left side of the building, and a complete renovation of the basement to provide space for the new adult day program. Visitors to the renovated building would enter through a new vestibule, and users of the multipurpose room on the first floor would find it slightly larger and without the central lally column that limited the room’s use. Above that room, the media lounge would be enlarged with a shed dormer, a strategy that would also enlarge a meeting room and other space upstairs. In the basement’s large meeting room, the central lally column would also be removed to improve visibility and usability.

 The site plan proposed by Raber showed 47 parking spaces, including new accessible parking spaces near the front entrance. As currently configured, the CFAL has 22 parking spaces.

 The projected total cost for the project, including construction expenses, design work, contingency funds and one year’s projected cost escalation, is set at $4,665,441, which represents an “all-in project budget,” Raber told the select board.

 Community Services Director Leah LaCross said the CFAL’s programs are serving more people than they did in the past, requiring more staff and additional space. Raber’s design uses a “thoughtful approach” to maximizing space in the existing building, and results in “a beautifully renovated space” to accommodate the Ryder’s Cove Respite adult day program on the lower level. Increasing the occupancy levels of various rooms will eliminate the need for waiting lists for some CFAL programs and events, she added. Lunches and other programs at the center are important parts of clients’ lives, LaCross noted. 

 “Many share how we’ve given them a reason to get up in the morning,” she said.

 While Raber said it would be possible to do the construction in phases to allow most programs to continue in the building while work is being carried out, “the best way, the safest way” is to essentially vacate the building for the nine months required for construction. That timeline is, “with the right contractor, very doable,” he said. LaCross said the town has a plan to locate some CFAL programs at the community center during those nine months.

 “Is that going to impact programs at the community center?” select board member Dean Nicastro asked.

 “Make no mistake, it’s going to be very tight in there,” LaCross said. But Recreation and Beaches Director Aimee Howell said she believes the community center can accommodate most CFAL programs, though it will impact the way the facility runs. 

 “But it’s expected. We’re moving two buildings into one,” she said. “There’s just going to have to be a lot of flexibility on our end, on their end, and on the community’s end.” The plan calls for one room in the community center to be reserved for use by the adult day program, and for the CFAL to move out in time to make way for the recreation division’s youth summer camp that starts in mid-June. 

 LaCross said some of the CFAL’s programs will likely need to be cut back somewhat during construction, but all of its services should remain intact.

 The projected price tag of $4.67 million is preliminary; a more refined cost estimate would come after detailed designs are prepared and reviewed. The ultimate cost will be known only after contractors bid on the project. Board member Shareen Davis asked how the cost would be affected by any tariffs imposed by the incoming Trump administration.

 In a typical home, about 20 percent of the building products come from abroad, Raber said. If the same is true for a project like this, the impact would be significant. 

 “I think everybody is hoping that common sense prevails” when it comes to the nation’s trade policies, he said. “Hopefully, if tariffs happen, it will be modest.”

Acknowledging that there are a number of other unknowns in the project, select board member Dean Nicastro said Tuesday he supports advancing a more conservative price estimate of $5 million. Town Manager Jill Goldsmith has said it would be possible to pay the entire amount using the town’s free cash account, which is unusually large this year. Doing so would prevent the need for borrowing and would be able to pass town meeting with a simple majority vote, rather than the two-thirds required for borrowing. That threshold proved the biggest impediment in gaining approval for a new CFAL in West Chatham.

The select board has not yet endorsed any particular strategy for funding the project, but planned to discuss it at next week’s meeting. All five members of the select board endorsed the CFAL project at this week’s meeting. 

 “We’ve been at this a very, very long time,” board member Cory Metters said. Acknowledging that some members preferred building a new CFAL instead of renovating the existing one, Metters said this plan may not represent “the storybook ending that some people would like to see,” but it represents a responsible plan for meeting the needs of the community.