We urge leaders of American Legion Post 271 in Hadley to drop threatened legal action and instead work with town officials to craft a compromise over parking.
There is no merit in the ill-advised, last-minute efforts by Legion members to block the new senior center and library projects, which have broad support among residents. Claims by the Legion and its supporters that planning for the projects was done secretively are unsupported. Details about the senior center and library were widely publicized before they were approved by large margins at a special Town Meeting in August and Proposition 2½ debt exclusion votes in November.
Particularly unhelpful are comments made by Planning Board member John Mieczkowski during a meeting in February when the Legion’s objections first surfaced. “What they’re going to do is basically put the Legion out of business,” Mieczkowski said of the plan to build the senior center on town land that has long been used by Post 271 for overflow parking. “You’re doing a big injustice to the American Legion, which has been there for a long time.”
Select Board Chairwoman Molly Keegan said town officials do not want to harm the Legion and are willing to work with its leaders on a compromise. She added that town officials also recognize that, “We have overwhelming support for the new library and senior center and the master plan it fits into.”
Construction of the new $7.1 million, 12,050-square-foot senior center is scheduled to begin this year on land owned by the town behind the aging Hooker School building on Middle Street, where the senior center is now housed. The new senior center is expected to open in the summer of 2019. It will continue to be used by other community groups such as the Girl Scouts and Alcoholics Anonymous, in addition to the town’s 1,800 seniors.
Once the new senior center is open, the Hooker School will be demolished and replaced by the new 11,800-square-foot library. The cost of the library will be paid by a $3.9 million state grant, $3.8 million approved by voters and an additional $300,000 in fundraising.
The need for a new library is clear. Goodwin Memorial Library was built in 1902 at the corner of Route 9 and Middle Street, but much of the three-story, 4,500-square-foot building is now inaccessible because it lacks an elevator. The new library will include a community meeting room and space to expand the current 20,000-item collection.
The town has been generous in allowing the Legion to use a municipally owned gravel area for at least a half-century as overflow parking for veterans and others who attend public and private functions. Though that gravel area no longer will be available, the town has pledged to allow the Legion to use the senior center parking lot and a lighted, paved walking path connecting the buildings.
While that would mean a longer walk for some people attending events at Post 271, Select Board member Gerry Devine said there still will be 36 parking spaces at the Legion, including some reserved for handicapped people.
“We don’t want anybody to think all the parking is going away there, or that some of the senior-most members that utilize the (Legion) will have to be walking from the senior center,” Devine said.
That is a reasonable solution to meet the needs of Post 271, at 162 Russell St. We encourage its leaders and town officials to put that agreement in writing before the May 3 annual Town Meeting, when voters should defeat two petitions placed on the warrant by the Legion. One would rescind the entire $7.1 million already voted for the senior center, and the other would relocate the new building to a nine-acre site in North Hadley the town acquired last year. It is far too late in the process to consider a new site for the senior center or to reverse the overwhelming support already expressed by voters.
Instead, it is time for Legion officials to drop their hard-line stance — including threatened legal action for which they have set a fundraising goal of $50,000. They must understand that Post 271 can continue to serve its important function in the community alongside a new senior center and library that also will serve hundreds of residents, and that adequate arrangements can be made to accommodate parking for all.