Branford Senior Center Idea Still Active

On Aug. 27, about 100 interested senior citizens turned out to hear First Selectman Anthony "Unk" DaRos talk about his idea to deliver a new senior center in a renovated/expanded space on North Main Street. Some liked it; some did not. DaRos said he will continue to move the project forward, collecting input along the way.

DaRos has outlined a plan moving the seniors out of the current Canoe Brook Senior Center on Cherry Street into a larger, renovated/expanded building at 175 North Main Street. The plan is contingent on the North Main Street building's becoming town property after being swapped with Branford's current Board of Education (BOE) building at 1111 Main Street (the former post office). The BOE would double its space by moving into renovated offices at the current Canoe Brook Senior Center space.

At the Aug. 27 meeting, DaRos said he and representatives of the Giordano family's Queach Corporation, which owns the North Main Street building, would go before the Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC) Sept. 2 to discern the feasibility of plans to turn 1111 Main Street into commercial retail space.

Also at the Aug. 27 meeting, DaRos introduced Tom Arcari of Quisenberry Arcari Architects (Farmington) to review the senior center's proposed additions and renovations—see the plans and a story describing the proposed center in the related links to the right.

"Our specialty is senior centers," said Arcari, noting the firm's completed a dozen new and renovated senior center facilities.

Arcari said the goal is to make the Branford facility "as flexible as possible, to handle growing and changing needs over the next 20 to 25 years."

By then, programming needs will have changed and the building will be flexible enough to accommodate those changes, he added.

"We think the building has the ability to meet the needs of Branford seniors for a very long time. This is a municipal building that will have a life of 50 years," said Arcari.

Among public comments Arcari said would be taken into consideration from the Aug. 27 meeting were concerns about researching the need for a traffic light at the entrance, the impact on the plan if North Main Street were to be widened by the state due to

Route 1 corridor expansion work, the possibility of overflow parking at neighboring sites, and concerns about the site's proximity to a school bus dispatch yard.

In response to concerns raised by some at the meeting that no other sites were being discussed, making this idea appear to be a "done deal," DaRos noted, "I don't have any alternative sites on public land," but stuck to his contention that the idea is a sound one for Branford.

As for a suggestion to consider the former Branford Hills Elementary School facility, DaRos said the Main Street site is a superior building that also meets "life safety codes," including having a sprinkler system in place.

"To bring up old schools to life safety codes is expensive," said DaRos.

Not everyone in attendance appeared to support improving the senior center at this point.

Branford native and senior citizen Tom Sudac, calling himself an "overlooked taxpayer," said, "I oppose this completely...I think the town of Branford is on the same path as Washington, D.C. Right now, the taxpayers are going to have to pay this burden. This is a sales gimmick."

If the decision-making process continues to the point of receiving RTM approval of this plan within the next four to six months, the North Main Street site allows for a public service jump-start that could deliver a new senior center by 2012, said DaRos.

DaRos added the project's expected $3.5 million expense wouldn't go into buying land and "bricks," but instead into enhancing a usable, existing building.

"We'll put $3.5 million into the things that count for you…putting it into amenities you people want. This is service," said DaRos.

He said more meetings seeking public input would be set up.

"This is an idea," said DaRos. "If it works, it works. But my obligation to you is we're gonna have senior center [that is]…friendly to your pocketbook. This building, dollar for dollar-it's a good deal…I can't imagine what else we're gonna do for this kind of money."