SHELBURNE — The Senior Center has narrowed its site search to one: the former Arms Academy science building at Maple and Church streets.
The Arms Academy operated as a school between 1880 to 1967, closing when the Mohawk Trail Regional School was established. The Arms building is now home to the Shelburne Historical Society.
The Senior Center, now serving Shelburne, Buckland and Ashfield, was established in 1970 at a Bridge Street shopfront before eventually relocating to its current home, the Masonic Lodge in Shelburne Falls. Senior Center employees and board members are now planning to build a new, larger site. The current site is 3,620 square feet, while the new center is proposed to be 8,300 square feet.
At a public meeting Monday, project organizers presented several possible places for a new center on the Arms property. A majority of residents preferred the plot of land where the Arms Academy science building used to sit, Senior Center Director Cathy Buntin said. The project expected to cost $4.76 million to build.
Zoning laws permit a building at the proposed Arms Academy site, designers Jones Whitsett Architects told project organizers Wednesday, Buntin said.
Next, architects will research the site further to determine its viability, and present their findings to the public at a date to be determined, Buntin said. Once a site is confirmed, fundraising efforts can begin.
Project organizers examined roughly 20 sites, narrowed that list down to four and then to one at a public meeting last month. Residents expressed the most interest in locating the new center on Arms Academy land, though project organizers preferred the Mole Hollow Candle building option. The other two possible sites included renovating the existing Buckland Police Station and constructing a new building on land at Church and Mechanic streets.
The next public meeting to discuss the Arms Academy site has yet to be set.
Reach Grace Bird at gbird@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 280.