Created by architecture firm edmSTUDIO, this image shows a generated photo of the senior center once expanded.
Reminder Publishing photo by Laura Mason
HAMPDEN — During a Oct. 9 public forum, the Hampden Senior Center Building Committee highlighted the building’s wide use as a community center and multiple needs, encouraging residents to vote in favor of the expansion at the upcoming Oct. 29 special Town Meeting.
The new plan for expansion will address the building’s current renovation needs while also expanding the center to accommodate the anticipated need over the next 25 years, Senior Center Building Committee Chair Gary Weiner explained at the forum. This was the third forum that the committee hosted about the expansion project.
The revised plan, B.4, eliminates 800 square feet from the original plan, B.2, through an eliminated office space and multi-purpose room. Additionally, the entrance vestibule of the building will not be altered. This results in a price reduction from $6.6 million to $5.9 million, Weiner stated.
For residents with houses valued at $377,000, this project total will create a 3-6% tax increase over 20 years, according to Treasurer Richard Patullo. This equals approximately $228-320 a year.
Weiner noted that the revised plan was created over the previous three months to listen to the community’s concerns of the price that were raised at the May 13 Town Meeting while still addressing the building’s needs.
When asked why the Building Committee had continued to pursue the expansion after residents voted 298 to 220 against the original plan at the May ballot question, Weiner emphasized that “the needs of the center are not going away.”
He later told Reminder Publishing that he felt the committee’s presentation at the May 13 Town Meeting was “not good” and that the committee hoped to provide more clear information at the Oct. 29 Town Meeting.
Center usage
The Hampden Senior Center first opened in 1977. At the time, it was located in a single room, the Melville Room, at the Hampden Town House where it offered meals, programs and services to 300 residents, Weiner stated.
Usage in the Melville Room continued until 1999, when the center moved to its current location at 104 Allen St., where it has continued to offer services over the last 25 years, Weiner said. Currently, the center hosts weekly meals; a memory café; support for programs such as fuel assistance, Brown Bag and SNAP; the town’s emergency food pantry, daytime and evening activities; exercise classes; billiard games; support as a heating and cooling center; vaccine clinics and blood pressure monitoring; veterans services; insurance and nutrition assistance; various fundraisers and special events; as well as transportation to medical appointments and regional events.
Available activities include knitting, yoga, trivia, painting, functional fitness classes, meeting with state legislators, musical instrument classes, card games, massages, screening of movies and TV shows, and quilting, according to the center. The building is also used by local organizations such as Scantic River Artisans and the Theatre Guild of Hampden as well as for private events like bridal showers, birthday parties and funeral receptions.
As of Oct. 9, the center had supported 2,331 visitors since July 1, 2023, with 58.3% Hampden residents and 41.7% from nearby towns, Weiner stated. With residents coming and going from events and services, the center has seen more than 34,300 visits in that same time period.
He emphasized that the center operates as a community resource for seniors and non-seniors of Hampden and the surrounding communities, including Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Monson, Palmer, Springfield and Wilbraham.
On average, daily lunches draw 25 people on Monday to Thursday and more than 50 on Fridays, Weiner said. The center also provides monthly Brown Bag groceries to 125 individuals, support from the emergency food pantry to 40-50 people a month and “almost [constant]” use of the billiards tables.
“The [Hampden Senior Center] is the only social services agency in Hampden,” Weiner emphasized.
Additionally, Building Committee member Don Collins noted that the town’s senior population has increased from 1,205 in 2009 to 2,009 presently, or a 63% increase over 14 years, stating that the senior population was “the fastest growing segment in town.”
Senior Center’s needs
In order to fulfill needed renovation on the 25-year-old building, there are multiple areas of the center that require work, Weiner explained. For the center to only complete these needed renovations, the total cost would be $1.7 million. The renovation work would include a new roof; added storage; modified bathrooms to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act; more efficient lighting; repaired or replaced windows; a replaced heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system; and a new sprinkler system.
However, only completing renovation work would result in a reduction of available space at the center, he noted. This is due to the needed expansion of the bathrooms to become ADA compliant, which would decrease the total available space in the building since the overall square footage was not increasing as well.
The cost of this renovation work is part of the current $5.9 million total project cost for expansion, Weiner said.
The Friends of Hampden Seniors will host a fundraiser on Oct. 25 at Gio’s Pizzeria, 9 Allen St. Ten percent of sales, both take out and dine-in, will go toward the building fund. Weiner said. The organization also recently donated $250,000 toward the project with additional fundraising scheduled to occur if the project receives Town Meeting approval on Oct. 29.
Following Weiner’s presentation, residents were given the chance to ask questions about the revised plan. During this session, Senior Center Executive Director Rebecca Moriarty clarified that both the Hampden and Wilbraham senior centers had not seen a change in attendance following the opening of Wilbraham’s new center.
When asked about the possibility of expanding the Hampden center’s hours, Moriarty stated that the center previously did a pilot run of 40 hours a week instead of its current 30 hours. She explained that the center did not have enough attendance during the added 10 hours to warrant a permanent schedule change. Furthermore, added hours would not address the center’s need for space and would require modifying the current staff hours.
However, Moriarty noted that the center’s recent evening hour activities were well-received by the community and would continue to be offered.
Concerning why the senior center could not offer programs at Thornton W. Burgess School, Weiner stated that the current space assessment of the school listed 80% of the building will be utilized by the Town Hall, Library and Recreation Department’s needs. He noted that this left minimal space for the senior center, due to needed space for growth, and that placing programs at both buildings could create transportation issues for center visitors.
Weiner concluded the public forum by thanking the members of the Senior Center Building Committee, acknowledging their work on this project meeting twice a month over the last two years.
Residents will have the opportunity to vote on the revised senior center expansion plan at the special Town Meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at Thornton W. Burgess School. To view the warrant article, visit hampdenma.gov/home/news/special-town-meeting-warrant-0.
