By Allison Perrine
RED BANK – As the borough looks to rebuild its damaged senior center on Shrewsbury Avenue, residents were not shy about sharing their critiques and suggestions on the latest plans at last week’s public input session.
At the Oct. 27 meeting, after a brief presentation from the architect, public input ranged from reworking plans to include cathedral ceilings, keeping the existing fireplace, adding ceiling fans and more.
The presentation was led by Pradeep Kapoor, director of sustainable design and partner with DMR Architects, the group which has been tasked with creating the plans for the new senior center. The decades-old waterfront facility currently sits in disrepair after a burst pipe in 2019 shuttered the site and exposed a series of other necessary but costly repairs. In the meantime, programs have been operating at Trinity Episcopal Church on White Street, giving seniors a place to continue meeting, socializing and participating in activities.
Currently, plans for the project include to repair and update the existing building on the Shrewsbury Avenue property with new seating, flooring, fixtures, windows, siding, partial new roofing and other amenities. The building’s “facelift” will cost an estimated $1.8 million, according to Kapoor. The Two River Times has been covering this issue extensively and a deeper dive into the planned repairs can be found on our website, tworivertimes.com.
After the presentation, the meeting moved to an hour-long question-and-answer period for attendees, which included council members, borough employees, senior center representatives and members of the public.
Resident Tiffany Harris said she approves of most of the project but does not agree with the plan to add moveable partitions to the large community room, fearing the trip hazards it could pose to seniors. Project manager Fernando Robledo of DMR Architects explained that the partitions will “float” and are hung from the ceiling.
Resident Ben Forest said he liked the idea of the moveable walls “because of the flexibility” but had concerns about their durability.
“I’d have to be confident that this is something that will last for 20 years and that we’ll be able to use and not cause $50,000 to fix if there’s a mechanical problem in them,” he said. “I mean it sounds great; the more flexibility the better… but I do have a concern just because it’s an operating system and I don’t want to be spending a lot of money fixing it every five years.”
Forest also questioned what types of systems would be in place to prevent the type of damage caused in 2019 from happening to the new facility. Kapoor explained that the mechanical system has been removed from the attic and the new systems will be placed outside and on the ground level of the building, which is up to code.
Resident Alan Hill questioned if the new facility would continue to serve as a warming or cooling center, when appropriate, as the former center had for years. Police Chief Darren McConnell assured that it would remain so. And while Hill was glad to hear that, he still shared his disappointment with the borough about the length of time it’s taken to rebuild the center.
“The problems with this building started in 2019, early 2019… by the end of 2019 this building could have been back in use,” he said, and could have fulfilled “a very important role in what turned out to be a global pandemic.”
Resident Rose Sestito asked if the architects ever considered keeping the layout of the new senior center exactly as it is now but with some upgrades such as to restrooms or fireplaces “instead of doing this big overhaul to the whole configuration.”
“It would save us taxpayers money to do it like that,” she said.
Kapoor explained that the layout will be the mostly the same but with some walls rearranged and upgrades to ensure the facility is ADA-complaint with proper fixtures, mechanical systems and more.
Sestito was not the only resident to comment about the fireplace at the center. Currently, there is a gas brick fireplace in the main meeting room at the facility but the plans are to remove it. Some residents advocated to keep it, including Henry Tindal.
“It’s just a plain brick. I would white wash that fireplace and give it a facelift because right now, the way it is is outdated looking,” said Tindal, who supported an idea for a retractable screen above the fireplace for viewing videos so seniors could take advantage of the room as much as possible.
Tindal later also advocated for a freshening up of other areas with bright colored accent walls alongside “something neutral gray or grayish blue” to help give rooms “a lift.” He suggested ceilings be “as white as possible to enlarge the look of the rooms” and that the kitchen be painted a color to give it “a more spacious look.”
The article originally appeared in the November 4 – 10, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
