The survey results detailing resident feedback on two proposed South County Senior Center sites are in, with Whately as the first choice among the 120 respondents.

The South County Senior Center and its three member towns of Deerfield, Sunderland and Whately have been exploring the Whately Town Offices and the current site of the Deerfield Town Hall as potential future homes for the Senior Center, which has been without a permanent location for several years.

From late February through mid-March, the Senior Center held three community forums to gather input on the two proposed sites, and it also collected survey results from folks in the communities. Senior Center Director Jennifer Ferrara shared the results of the survey during last week’s Board of Oversight meeting, with 69 respondents preferring Whately, 43 choosing Deerfield, six choosing neither and two voters declaring no preference.

“People really liked the Whately site because they felt it would available sooner than the Deerfield site and it was less expensive,” Ferrara said. Other positive comments from respondents about the Whately Town Offices were its easily accessible outdoor space and that it is easy to drive to, although it is out of the way when compared to the Deerfield Town Hall.

In terms of where survey respondents live, 65 are in Deerfield, 23 are in Sunderland and 32 are in Whately.

Each concept, created by consultant edmStudio, was around 15,000 square feet, but the Deerfield site would likely include a second floor, which some survey-takers disliked. The estimated price tags were $16.9 million for Deerfield and $15.5 million for Whately.

Board of Oversight members said they wanted a little more time to digest the survey results. Whately representative Joyce Palmer-Fortune said she believes the towns could find a way to make the sites come in below the estimated price tags. She pointed to the Whately Town Hall renovation, which was estimated to be a multi-million-dollar project and ended up requiring only a $1.3 million appropriation in 2017.

Ferrara said there was one concern that has continuously been brought up by residents: “‘Is this going to happen in my lifetime?’ That’s the biggest feedback I hear from people.”

There was also concern about messaging from the towns, specifically with Deerfield town officials making statements on the Senior Center’s future without consulting the Board of Oversight.

“It’s really, really detrimental to the whole process if they’re saying, ‘We’ve decided this is where the Senior Center is going to go,’ ” Palmer-Fortune said, urging officials to “use their words carefully” because it “really turns everyone off.”

Deerfield Selectboard and Board of Oversight member Trevor McDaniel agreed, adding that similar issues arose when South County EMS was being formed and scattered messaging “breaks down partnership.”

Any work, though, is a long way off, especially with what town officials say are likely difficult economic times on the horizon. Palmer-Fortune said the towns could also explore a smaller alternative, such as retrofitting part of the Whately Town Offices instead of building an addition, which could provide more space for the Senior Center and cost less for the member towns.

“I’d like to see more of the comments and just think about what we could do that at least improves over what we have,” Palmer-Fortune said, “even if it doesn’t get us all the way there where we want.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.