SOUTH DEERFIELD — With Annual Town Meeting votes on whether to move the South County Senior Center to a 12,150-square-foot office building at 112 Amherst Road in Sunderland on the horizon, an alternative proposal has resurfaced.
During a tour on Saturday, Deerfield Finance Committee Chair Julie Chalfant presented the projected costs and necessary building modifications that would be needed to turn the 10,500-square-foot Deerfield Town Hall at 8 Conway St. into a home for the Senior Center, after the municipal offices move to a renovated 1888 Building.
Chalfant began her presentation by establishing the need for a unified Senior Center. The center is currently located at 22 Amherst Road in Sunderland, but programming is split between the First Congregational Church of Sunderland, Whately Town Hall, Cadence Yoga Center in Sunderland, the South Deerfield Polish American Citizens’ Club and Deerfield Town Hall. Chalfant noted this requires seniors to “not only know where their program is, but get to the right spot.”
“My understanding is that sometimes doesn’t happen, and it turns out your program is somewhere else,” she said. “It would be very helpful if everything was in one building.”
Chalfant highlighted some of the benefits of using 8 Conway St. in Deerfield, a one-story building located on a quiet residential street with easy access to fields, the library and downtown businesses. She noted, however, that moving the Senior Center to 8 Conway St. would require a significant expansion of parking space.
According to the Finance Committee, using the Conway Street building would bring the Senior Center’s annual budget to $260,060 for fiscal year 2027, while using the 112 Amherst Road building would increase it to $451,269. The materials distributed at the tour argue that the cost of utilities, repainting, deep cleaning and ramp enhancement at 8 Conway St. would cost $34,685, and that $300,000 of immediate renovations to the building, based on a South County Senior Center priority list, would add $25,000 to the budget over 10 years.
However, the figures provided by the Finance Committee were met with pushback from South County Senior Center Board of Oversight members. The Board of Oversight has supported moving to the 112 Amherst Road building.
In its materials, the Board of Oversight claimed the costs associated with the “last-minute” proposal are unrealistic. This claim is based off a 2020 study of the condition of Deerfield Town Hall by Gorman Richardson Lewis Architects.
When the Whately, Sunderland and Deerfield selectboards and finance committees met on March 23, the Board of Oversight’s presentation stated that renovating and converting Deerfield Town Hall would come to $5 million, and renovating and renting the 112 Amherst Road space would cost $168,000 per year, including the costs of renovations, real estate taxes, water district taxes, hazard insurance, maintenance and repairs, landscaping, snow removal and any tax increases due to renovations.
The condition of the 8 Conway St. building was a source of questions for attendees, who cited how the 2020 study referenced asbestos in the floor that should be remediated, as well as a ventilation system and windows that need replacement.
The lack of work that has been done to the building since the study raised concerns from Sunderland Selectboard and Board of Oversight member Dan Murphy.
“In the 2021 plan [from Gorman Richardson Lewis Architects], it said there’s $537,000 worth of work that needs to be done to this space, and that was five years ago,” Murphy said. “I’m a professional engineer, and I know what cost escalations are, and that number would at least be 50% higher now.”
Murphy went on to urge residents to look at what he described as the actual cost of the two proposals.
“Everyone needs to think about that we are really talking about less than 1% of the [towns’] budget. … If you really step back and think about what it’s going to cost, it’s a pretty small dollar,” Murphy said. “I appreciate everybody wanting to find the best answer, but for all the studies and all the things [the Board of Oversight] has looked at, we have a really good option [with 112 Amherst Road].”
Other questions raised concern about 112 Amherst Road, the three-story building off Route 116, specifically the safety of the location off of a busy state highway and the condition of the elevator, which some attendees argued would represent a huge risk and cost if it needs to be brought up to state standards.
The interior of the elevator at 112 Amherst Road is 48 by 51 inches, according to South County Senior Center Director Jennifer Ferrara. Although state law requires an elevator cab to be a minimum of 54 by 68 inches, the regulation includes an exception for elevators in existing buildings that are at least 48 by 48 inches, eliminating the immediate need to construct an additional exterior elevator.
At previous meetings and community forums, Ferrara and Joyce Palmer-Fortune, chair of the Whately Selectboard and Board of Oversight, have mentioned the possibility of constructing a larger exterior elevator down the road.
Attendees were also concerned about 112 Amherst Road’s lack of walkability compared to 8 Conway St. Ferrara informed those in attendance that if the Senior Center were to go there, “the Sunderland Police Department has already put in requests for traffic studies and that those results would be given to [the Massachusetts Department of Transportation] to make a decision about the space.”
Palmer-Fortune reiterated the Board of Oversight’s stance toward the end of the meeting.
“We need the experts [to analyze costs] and that’s what the Board of Oversight did,” Palmer-Fortune said. “Do I know how much these things cost? No, so I rely on experts. That is really important for people to hear, because I don’t think we are relying on the experts for the costs [for 8 Conway St.]”
Palmer-Fortune mentioned that 8 Conway St. was already examined by professionals as part of the 2020 study.
“The total cost of a renovation to 8 Conway St. was $1.4 million, and that was back in 2020,” Palmer-Fortune said. “I don’t think they’ve counted everything in here. That is not going to get it up to senior center standards.”
Palmer-Fortune urged residents to consider all of the available information, and the accuracy of the information, and to consider the Board of Oversight’s proposal first.
“I would like people to put this aside. The Board of Oversight has put forward an option. And we’re not deciding between 112 Amherst Road and 8 Conway St. We are deciding 112 Amherst Road or no 112 Amherst Road, and then the discussion can begin,” Palmer-Fortune said. “And I don’t think that discussion will go well. It won’t go well. … It’s that contentious.”
As for the Deerfield Finance Committee’s perspective, Chalfant defended the use of Town Hall for the Senior Center. According to Chalfant, the Board of Oversight included some figures for 8 Conway St., based off of a proposal done by the architecture firm edmSTUDIO, during a presentation in January, and the Finance Committee used these numbers to calculate the final figures that were presented to tour attendees.
“We went and did the research required to figure out the answers to the questions that they had about 8 Conway St., and those are good numbers,” Chalfant argued. “We pulled up utility bills and we talked to members of the Selectboard, including the member who is on the Board of Oversight. This idea was not in the dark or hidden. It was late.”
Chalfant claimed the Board of Oversight also worked to lower cost estimates for 112 Amherst Road with edmSTUDIO, but did not do that for its figures for 8 Conway St.
“The other thing that happened is the initial study of [112 Amherst Road] had a much higher dollar value than it does now, so [the Board of Oversight members] went back to edmSTUDIO and said, ‘How can we can get this number down to something reasonable that people will accept?’ Which is great. That’s what they should do. They did not do that for this building,” Chalfant said.
Ultimately, Chalfant agreed with Palmer-Fortune that there needs to be fair and accurate discussion of the options available.
Going forward, Whately, Sunderland and Deerfield residents will vote on the South County Senior Center’s proposed move to 112 Amherst Road at their respective Annual Town Meetings. For more information about 112 Amherst Road and the Board of Oversight’s proposal, visit southcountyseniorcenter.org/112-amherst-road .