January 14, 2026 By Carol Britton Meyer
Voters at the April 27 (or possibly April 28 if there are two sessions) town meeting will be asked to approve funding to construct a new Center for Active Living on a site off Bare Cove Park Drive, including all associated professional fees, equipment, and furniture.
The Select board unanimously voted in support of including such an article in the town meeting warrant Tuesday night. The latest overall construction cost estimate is $29,927,473.
While the vote this week was limited to whether or not to include the warrant article in the spring town meeting warrant, the board will discuss the details of the proposal further at subsequent board meetings – including why all three members support the proposal.
This figure does not include the cost of a traffic light at the entrance to the park, a new water line extended to the Bare Cove Park entrance gate for a fire hydrant and hydration station nor for Bare Cove Park Drive repaving, a sidewalk, and parking space restriping, which will be paid for in the town budget.
“This work will be done for the betterment of the park and for CAL use [and will also benefit users of the pickleball courts that were recently approved for the area],” Town Administrator Tom Mayo said recently. “The Rec Department has been asking for a light there for years, and we want to be sure that intersection is as safe as we can make it.”
Size already reduced
Select board Chair William Ramsey noted that since the proposal’s inception, there has been a 9.6% reduction in the building’s size, bringing it to 25,950 square feet. There are 140 parking spots.
He also noted that both he and CAL building committee chair Tom Carey were earlier “adamant” that the facility would be located in Town Hall, involving an expansion of the current senior center.
However, neighborhood, sports teams, and Rec Department opposition to building a parking garage behind the site or using Haley Field for parking put the brakes on consideration of keeping the senior center at its current location.
After various other sites were ruled out, the current site was determined to be the best one for the project by the building committee, which Carey told the select board had earlier on the day of the select board meeting “enthusiastically and unanimously” supported placing a related warrant article on the 2026 town meeting agenda.
“We are quite pleased to have reached the stage where we have a proposal we think is appropriate to present to the town,” he said.
Confident a new senior center is needed
Ramsey said that after listening to many seniors, he’s convinced “that the current senior center is not sufficient to meet their needs. I am 100 percent confident that we need a new one.”
He went on to say that “for me, it’s always been about the cost of a new building. I learned that you don’t save much money by reducing the size. I said if the project wasn’t under $30 million, it would lose my support.” He also noted that the project team is continuing its efforts to “get the costs down.”
The zoning board of appeals and planning board met in joint session – also on Tuesday night — to review the proposal. The ZBA approved a special permit for the project. The planning board did not yet take a vote pending further discussion. The hearing was continued to Jan 26.
A calculator will be posted on the town website soon to assist residents in determining the impact the project would have on their property taxes if the related town meeting warrant article passes by a two-thirds vote. Subsequent to Town Meeting, there will be a ballot vote on the project at a special election if the warrant article passes – with more information to come.
‘We need a core infrastructure that supports aging in place’
Nes Correnti spoke in support of the project, noting that putting off building what she considers to be a much-needed new CAL will only drive up the cost. “We need a core infrastructure [for our rapidly growing senior population] that supports aging in place and that will help our seniors remain active and healthy longer,” she said.
Council on Aging Chair Joe Nevins urged town officials and citizens to think not only about the cost but also the benefit such a new facility would be to the town’s senior population.
He also noted that some citizens haven’t been paying attention to the proposed project but that they are likely to take more of an interest as town meeting approaches and also urged the select board to “educate the people about not just the cost but also the value such a facility would bring to the citizens of this town.”
Diane DeNapoli sees the value of waiting six months to educate citizens more about the proposal. “This is a critical project and should be done right. We need to help people understand [what the proposal involves]. Some people still think it’s happening at town hall. . . . We want to do it right for the whole town, including our beloved seniors. . . . We need to give people the complete picture – including the operational costs.”
‘Seniors need a place to go’
A recently retired Guilford Road resident expressed support for the new CAL, noting that people who are no longer working “need a place to go. It’s important to have a building like the proposed CAL offering different activities for seniors in the interest of their social emotional well-being. It’s important for the town to consider this and to move forward with the project.”
Yvette Kanter said that anyone not in support of this project doesn’t “believe in supporting seniors, who were encouraged to [support] the building of the new Foster School and public safety facility and the recent operational override. “They have paid in.”
In supporting the proposal, select board member Liz Klein noted that the Hingham master plan approved in 2021 included a new senior center. “There’s no reason backed by data indicating that we should change that course,” she said.
Board member Julie Strehle thanked the building committee and other residents and volunteers for their “longtime advocacy for the project.”
For further details and presentations made at meetings, go to https://www.hingham-ma.gov/1080/Center-for-Active-Living-Building-Projec.