Joint Board Negotiates Senior Center Design Funding with Checkpoints
Planning Board · Meeting of April 23, 2026
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA — Joint boards approve $250K Senior Center design phase with mandatory checkpoints. The Select Board, Planning Board, and Finance Committee unanimously recommended a $250,000 appropriation from the Parks and Recreation Revolving Fund for the Senior/Community Center project at the former Masonic Lodge, reduced from the original $350,000 request. Finance Committee Chair Sarah Mellish and members had raised concerns about the project's estimated cost escalation from $2.5 million to $3 million to approximately $6 million to $7 million, its absence from the Capital Plan, and the compressed decision timeline.
Town Administrator Tony Barletta proposed contractual checkpoints at 30 percent and 75 percent design completion, allowing both the Select Board and Finance Committee to reassess scope and cost before authorizing further work. Architect John Hardin of Olson Lewis confirmed the revised scope was achievable and reduced fees by $87,500 if limited to 75 percent design.
In the full story:
- The complete report — 324 words
Source: the Planning Board meeting of April 23, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
Keep reading with a 14-day free trial
Subscribe to Manchester-by-the-Sea News to keep reading this post and get 14 days of free access to the full post archives.
A subscription gets you:
- Subscriber-only posts and full archive
- Post comments and join the community
- 24x7 access to local news