Chatham will host two forums on proposed Center for Active Living building

The Chatham Select Board will host two town hall-style forums to give residents a chance to review details surrounding plans for a new Center for Active Living.

The first forum will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 22 and will dive into the design, planning, and construction of the facility, including a review of cost estimates. The public will be able to ask the project team questions. Vice Chairman Michael Schell said the town manager will work with the project's architect and owners' project manager to present an updated cost analysis.

The second meeting — planned for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 12 — will focus on an open community discussion. A press release from the town says "citizen prepared presentations" will be allowed and should be emailed to Cathy Lewis at clewis@chatham-ma.gov by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 5.

"The community will be able to come in, make their case, make speeches, make presentations, make arguments, inquire, let their fellow community members, neighbors, know what their position is and why and what they think the arguments are," said Schell during the board's most recent meeting. "The Select Board would be more of a monitor and moderator of that discussion than a participant."

People who cannot attend or prefer to submit written questions or comments may email communityforum@chatham-ma.gov or submit them through the Community Voice portal on the town's website (www.chatham-ma.gov) by 4 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 11.

Comments and presentations will be limited to five minutes per person.

Both meetings will be held in the large meeting room on the lower level of the Town Office Annex, 261 George Ryder Road. Links to join the meetings remotely will be available in the agendas posted to www.mytowngovernment.org, on the Meetings & Events Calendar on the town website and on the Town’s social media accounts. The meetings will be broadcast on the town’s government access channel and archived for viewing through the town’s website.

The new Chatham Center for Active Living proposal is slated for a vote on Sept. 18

At 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 18 at Monomoy Regional Middle School, the town plans to put the proposal to build a new Center for Active Living at 1610 Main St.in West Chatham before voters again, after the plan narrowly failed twice at the May 6 town meeting.

During the meeting, residents will reconsider articles related to a new Center for Active Living, including a proposal to convert the current Council on Aging building on Stony Hill Road into housing.

Chairman Cory Metters has recused himself from deliberation on the actual project due to a conflict of interest. He previously told the Times he owns a business at 1579 Main St. in Chatham, directly across the street from the proposed project, and felt it appropriate to step aside.

During the spring town meeting, voters defeated Article 18 — twice — to spend $10,667,944 to design, construct, and equip a new building at the West Chatham site on Route 28 donated to the town by Bill Marsh.

Supporters say the current Council on Aging building is aging and inadequate and costs for a new building will continue to rise, while opponents say the plan is too expensive and shows little compromise.

Two separate votes were held. While the proposal got a majority of support both times, it did not garner two-thirds of the vote as required. The first attempt to pass the article regarding the new Center for Active Living failed, with 587 supporting and 295 opposing — one vote short of a two-thirds majority.

A second vote also failed, with 585 voting in support and 294 rejecting the proposal.

In 2021, voters defeated the proposal when it failed to garner two-thirds of the vote as required. The cost associated with the project then was $8.4 million.

Zane Razzaq writes about housing and real estate. Reach her at zrazzaq@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @zanerazz.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Chatham will host two forums to discuss Center for Active Living plans