Published in the March 14, 2018 edition

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — The town needs to hire a professional consultant in order to address several large capital projects, Capital Facilities Advisory Committee (CFAC) Chairman Ted Caswell said at a recent Board of Selectmen meeting.

The selectmen established CFAC a few years ago, and gave the committee the charge to evaluate the town’s buildings.

“The mission for CFAC was to set the big picture of the town’s existing and potential new buildings,” said Caswell. “It’s the master planning for the next 10, 20 or even 40 years and how it’s going to affect this town. This is the most important piece of Lynnfield’s strategic future. It’s nothing to shake a stick at because it’s a real need.”

Caswell noted the town’s schools and new fields have been “successful” because of the investments the town made.

“I feel as though we should move forward so our other facilities are in the same top notch manner,” said Caswell.

Caswell noted CFAC has been evaluating the conditions of the town’s buildings. He said CFAC has toured each building and met with department heads and various different groups in town. CFAC has held public forums as well.

While the town-wide school building project was completed in 2003 and the Al Merritt Center opened in 2014, Caswell said Lynnfield’s newest municipal building is Town Hall.

“Town Hall is entering into its 55th year,” said Caswell.

Caswell noted there are 24 town departments, 13 boards and committees and 23 clubs in town that need space. He said the town has grown significantly over the last 20 to 30 years.

“There have been over 1,200 housing units put in place, and that doesn’t include stuff currently before boards,” said Caswell. “Route 1 traffic has increased and our population has increased around 40 percent over the last 50 years. And then there is MarketStreet. Lynnfield looks a lot different now than it did 20 years ago.”

Caswell said, “The town has clearly not kept up with its growth.”

“A lot of these buildings were designed and constructed for the needs at the time,” said Caswell. “It puts us 50 years behind what we need now.”

Caswell said several town buildings are in “deplorable conditions,” particularly the police and fire stations.

“Police, fire, Town Hall and the library are all starved for more space,” said Caswell. “It’s now time to take care of the final pieces in Lynnfield, which are the dated facilities. It’s not what we have now. It’s what we can have in the future. The need for good, solid buildings will never go away. The problem will only get larger as time goes.”

Caswell said Lynnfield is “geographically hindered” due to the lack of land owned by the town. He noted 50 acres of the Reedy Meadow Golf Course are available to be used by the town.

The CFAC chairman said the proposed location for the new Lynnfield Public Library would be located on a portion of the land in front of the Reedy Meadow Golf Course. He noted a drain line at the library “blew up” last week, causing extensive damage to books and other items.

“It didn’t look good,” said Caswell. “It’s money wasted. It certainly wouldn’t have happened in a new library.”

Caswell said the library has been awarded a construction grant by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, but noted the library is currently 18th on the waiting list.

“We expect in the next two to three years to go for a town vote to get the project approved,” said Caswell. “The new library would be a town jewel and there is no better site than Reedy Meadow. It’s a perfect 10.”

If a new library is built on a portion of the Reedy Meadow property, Caswell envisions converting a barn at the golf course into a community “village.” He said the village could contain a cafe, meeting spaces, community center and golf course operations.

“The vision is to relocate the barn, put an addition onto it or construct small buildings in a village atmosphere,” said Caswell. “I am not talking about something big like MarketStreet. It would be a fantastic opportunity.”

Caswell said the Police and Fire Departments have “outgrown their current location.”

“They need about 33,000 square feet between the two groups,” said Caswell. “I would recommend having a combined safety facility. We could potentially locate that facility on the South Lynnfield fire station plot or potentially behind the Town Hall.”

Caswell said the South Fire Station is located on two-and-a-half acres.

“That building is in very difficult shape,” said Caswell. “We have spent a lot of money and the Fire Department has spent a lot of time repairing and doing what they can to hold that building together. It needs to be taken down.”

Caswell said a “small Fire Department outpost” could be located in the center of town. He said constructing a combined public safety building would “free up” the existing buildings that could be renovated and repurposed.

Additionally, Caswell said Town Hall needs more space. He said the existing library could be used as a central office for the School Department.

“That would free up space at the Senior Center,” said Caswell. “They are doing a great job up there and they would love to have additional square footage.”

In addition to building and renovating facilities in town, Caswell said the town’s schools will need more maintenance in the near future.

“I think the DPW has done a good job with what has been allocated for the schools, but they are going to need a lot more over the next three to five years,” said Caswell.

Caswell also said it would be nice to have a community center or recreation center.

While CFAC has not calculated the costs of the potential projects, Caswell said the town is looking at a “a five-year process for new facilities.”

“From this point forward, we would need to put together a team to push this through,” said Caswell. “Arthur Bourque did a fabulous job with the fields and we need someone similar. Part of that team would be to hire a planning consultant.”

Selectmen reaction

Selectmen Chairman Chris Barrett inquired if it would be possible to build any new facilities on the Lynnfield Center Water District property located near Bostik on Main Street. Local officials previously considered developing the land for new athletic fields.

Selectman Phil Crawford, who served on the Fields Committee at the time, said the project was nixed because the land is surrounded by wetlands.

“We found building any kind of project down there would be very challenging,” said Crawford. “You would have to build a road in order to get three quarters of a mile in through the wetlands to even reach an area that was dry enough to build on. It just didn’t make any sense.”

Selectman Dick Dalton said the town should begin preparing to address “major expenses” at the schools such as replacing HVAC equipment.

“HVAC collectively can cost at least six or seven figures easily,” said Dalton.

Caswell agreed.

“It’s not the distribution of the systems,” said Caswell. “That was done when the schools were built and they will last for a long time. But the main heating units are expensive.”

Dalton said replacing the police station is urgently needed.

“The police station is in a deplorable condition,” said Dalton. “While it doesn’t have the sex appeal of a lot of other things, it’s something that I think is a liability in waiting.”

Crawford agreed with Caswell the town needs to hire a consultant in order to help the infrastructure projects come to fruition. He noted the town’s debt schedule will begin falling off between 2024 and 2025.

“That would be the time frame we are looking (at) to take on some major debt if we want to minimize the tax consequence,” said Crawford.

In response to a question from Crawford, Caswell said the ideal method would be grouping different projects into “one package and putting it in front of the town.”