Acton Selectmen Approve New Senior Center

The Acton selectmen have approved plans for a proposed 20,000-square-foot Arlington Street Senior Center and human services facility.

It would would replace the 5,000-square-foot Senior Center at 50 Audubon Drive.

The building would house the Senior Center and human services departments, including Acton Nursing Service, the veterans services officer, and the community resource coordinator. Th Senior Center Study Committee plans to hold a public forum on Jan. 13 to receive feedback about building the new facility.

“In 2010, 16.7 percent of the population of Acton was seniors; that’s about 2,400 seniors. The projection for 2025 is 25 percent of the total population will be seniors; that brings it up to 6,000 seniors. We’re all getting there sooner or later, so I think the need for the senior center is growing tremendously,” Dean Charter, chairman of the Senior Center Study Committee, said in a statement.

The new building would have a large parking lot in addition to space for a kitchen, billiards, dining, lobby/lounge/library, Senior Center administration, two multipurpose rooms, restrooms, nursing, yoga/gymnasium, and veterans/outreach.

The senior center, nursing and veterans/outreach would have their own separate entrances, Charter said.

If Town Meeting approves the funding, Acton would need to immediately hire a designer. The total construction cost, which is expected to be between $8 million and $10 million, would likely be proposed at April 2017 Town Meeting.

Construction bidding would go out by March 2018, followed by an 18-month construction period. The construction of the building would then be expected to be complete by 2020.