ERVING — Faced with a lack of local senior housing, the town is investigating a solution, but some seniors think these efforts are decades too late.
Town officials said they are taking a first step now by commissioning a study to evaluate the area’s need for senior housing. Today, selectmen and the Franklin County Regional Housing and Redevelopment Authority will review at least three proposals from consulting firms that submitted bids to conduct the study.
“It’s been a topic that’s been talked about for decades and this is the first time this board has decided to act on it,” said Board of Selectmen Chairman William Bembury, explaining that groundbreaking on a potential project would be at least eight years out. “If you don’t start it won’t happen at all.”
With the help of a Community Development Block grant for up to $16,400, the study will examine census data to determine the need, according to Bembury. The study will be completed by December.
Although selectmen say they’re acting as fast as they can, that may not be fast enough for some residents.
“We need housing, bad,” said 79-year-old Carole Lyman. She said she has written letters to the selectmen over the years expressing her concerns. “I told them I am going to be fighting for senior housing until I die.”
Lyman said that by the time new housing is built, the baby boomers will also need housing, and the generation currently in need will be gone. “We will find out when it gets built, but I won’t be here.”
Others at the Erving Senior Center who talked about the issue agreed. Some seniors also think that the town should hold off on plans to build a new library until senior housing is addressed. The proposed library could cost about $4 million, with up to 50 percent paid by a state grant.
“What does a damn library do? Nothing,” said 83-year-old Rae Kowacki, who lives in Erving and was born in Athol.
Selectman Arthur Johnson echoed the seniors’ concerns. “Senior housing is the number one concern. I’ve never heard residents come in and say that the library is not meeting their needs.” he said. “We have seniors that have literally been in our community for decades that are being forced to leave because there is no place for them to live.”
Empty-nesters and others looking to downsize are left with nowhere to go in Erving, Johnson said.
“We need housing, never mind the library,” said Lyman, who has lived in Erving since ’57.
If the town decided to move forward with construction, a prospective location would be on the town-owned property next to the senior center on Northfield Road. Seniors would be able to walk from their apartments to the center and to the new library, which is planned for a nearby site.
Another location possibility is on the International Paper mill property, another piece of town-owned land that officials are working to get back on the tax rolls, said Bembury.
“They are desperate for it, for a senior center. They all want it,” said Paula Betters, the director of the senior center and a member of the senior housing market study committee.
In January, the town formed the senior housing market study committee and began accepting bids for the study in March.
You can reach Lisa Spear at lspear@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 280