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SPENCER – Should Spencer have a town common and if so, where should it be located?
During the May 27 Board of Selectmen’s meeting, member Jonathan Viner posed that idea and suggested the front area of the Lake Street School property as a possible site.
Viner said he is interested in pursuing the topic now because the town has plans to demolish the former school.
He said the project could be done for a “reasonable,” amount of money because it mainly entailed installing a gazebo and electricity.
Selectman Vice Chair Jared Grigg said it is a bad time to pursue such a project.
He noted the town is talking about laying off full-time firefighters, is not supplying the Spencer Rescue Squad with the funds it needs to operate and is facing payment of minimum school spending required by the state.
Grigg asked how a town common would be funded and maintained. He said the parks and recreation department is “stretched thin as it is.”
Grigg noted that a request for an additional highway worker to help maintain parks failed during the recent Proposition 2 ½ override.
He said he liked the idea of a town common but “from an operational standpoint, I just don’t see that happening right now.”
Viner responded, “If we want it to happen, we can make it happen. It costs nothing to express an intent, ask questions or flesh out possibilities…If we wait for conditions to be perfect, it’s never going to happen.”
Town Administrator Jeff Bridges said once the Lake Street School is demolished, there needs to be a “community conversation,” about what happens to the land.
He noted a cell tower would remain somewhere on the property. Bridges added, “From a resource perspective, we don’t know what tomorrow holds but we can’t maintain what we have today.”
Bridges said he had worked in communities with town commons and they must be prioritized space and “pristine.”
The town administrator noted Spencer is unable to give its existing parks that level of care at this point.
During public comment, resident Roger Foss suggested the town common be located at the Spencer Fairgrounds, noting the property has restrooms, electricity, water and parking. If marketed correctly, he said, holding events like car shows and concerts there could become a good source of revenue for the town.
Hicks noted that there is a 99-year lease agreement with the fairgrounds’ owners and the town has nothing to do with the running of the site. He added there is potential to the idea, though.
Foss suggested the town work out an agreement to bring attractions in that would make Spencer “an attractive place for people to spend their hard-earned money.”
In a related matter, the board heard from Pat Lyons of Weston and Sampson, who is design engineer on the Lake Street School demolition plan.
He said Spencer had chosen an option whereby asbestos would be removed from the building and disposed of and the structure demolished. Lyons said crews would go in and complete the process in contained conditions.
In answer to a question from Viner, Lyons said most of the asbestos is in ceiling and floor tiles measuring 9 x 9 or 12 x 12. The details can be found in a hazardous building report.
The public has until June 15 to review the report and offer comments and questions. Copies of it are available at Town Hall and the public library, Lyons added.
Selectman Ralph Hicks said inside the former Lake Street School, “the mold is unbelievable. The walls are velvety black.”
He said it is cost prohibitive to make the building “livable,” and he has a fear about fires being lit and someone getting killed or hurt at the site.
“There’s liability for the town. It needs to go,” Hicks said.
Bridges noted there is $1.2 million available for remediation and demolition of the building. It would be paid for through an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields grant, free cash allocated by Town Meeting and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.