THE NEW
Uxbridge Times Established in 1991 Vol. 29 • Issue 3
Over 21,000 Copies Mailed Free
UxbrIdge • North UxbrIdge • LINwood • doUgLas • NorthbrIdge • whItINsVILLe • sUttoN • MaNchaUg
March 2020
Library Renovation...“An Uphill Battle” Worcester developer buys “Children with disabilities in town have been born, grown up, and entered their adult lives without an accessible library.” - Justin Ray Snook
SiMOn FaiRFieLD LibRaRy by Justin Ray Snook Director, Simon Fairfield Public Library
On august 21st, 2000, the Board of trustees of the simon Fairfield public Library appointed a building committee charged with overseeing the development of plans for the renovation and expansion of the library. it is now 2020. We've made some minor improvements, but the elephant in the room still remains unaddressed despite 20 years of an uphill battle. We are still not accessible. We aren't even close to ada compliance. Mothers still have to leave their strollers outside. Children in wheelchairs have to be carried into the basement and told there is no restroom for them. the occasional patron still has to be guided or even carried up the stairs. Children with disabilities in town have been born, grown up, and entered their adult lives without an accessible library. Why? Here's the story: the first plans and proposals drawn up between 2000 and 2006 were designed to comply with standards set by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners at the time. this entailed an addition of 10,600 square feet. For reference, our entire current facility is only 4,875. this addition, as well as other standards that had to be
POSTaL PaTROn
met, would have made the project eligible for state grant funding. the state only funds around half of such projects, however, while meeting their standards makes the project at least 4 times more expensive. the prohibitive cost of such a renovation and the increased operational expenses that would accrue by such a large addition of space were not even palatable to the Board of trustees, much less the taxpayers of the community. in 2006, the Library trustees and the town’s Building and Facilities Construction Committee switched gears and created a very pared down version of the project using architect Charlie Van Hoorhis. He ultimately created final design development draft in 2012 that brought the building into ada compliance, modernized the interior, and included many indoor and outdoor maintenance concerns to the tune of between $2.3 and $2.5 million dollars. those plans sat on the back-burner for 3 years as the town pursued other capital projects. in June 2015, the trustees hired me as director. My interview hinged on whether or not i had the knowledge, energy, and passion to make the renovation project a reality. i admittedly had zero experience in these kinds of projprEsOrtEd standard us pOstagE paid BOstOn, Ma pErMit nO 55800
eCRWss
DiReCtoR siMoN FAiRFielD PubliC libRARy
ects (and zero experience in library administration at all for that matter) but the trustees gave me a chance anyway. the first thing i did was meet with Van Hoorhis in an attempt to understand his design rationale and try to pare down the project further. together, we made some changes to the design that would have brought down the cost. the second thing i did was meet with a representative from the MBLC who confirmed that we would still be on our own if we undertook a project of this scope. i asked what they thought we needed to spend on our library, they guessed around $14 million, and that was the end of that. in 2016, we could have taken Charlie’s plans to town meeting for a debt exclusion article. after feeling the political pulse of the town, however, i advised not doing so. i was learning about the community at the time, getting to know people, and discussion kept coming back to doing things the douglas way-no-nonsense, economical, and functional. perhaps not taking the plans to the ballot that year was a mistake, but the schools were desperately campaigning for an override in that same election and it failed at the ballot 2 to 1...so i don’t think it was. continued on page 18
South Main St. Buildings
by Christine beauchaine two buildings in downtown uxbridge have recently been purchased by Baystate investment Fund LLC of Worcester. the properties are located at 5 and 11 south Main street in uxbridge and sold for almost $1.6 million, according to the Worcester Business Journal. WBJ states that the two, two-story buildings boast a combined 24,000 square feet of space and that the sale closed on december 13th, 2019. Edward J Murphy, president of Baystate investment Fund LLC, says that his company looks for properties which they feel are “underperforming” and work to “add value” to those properties. Murphy adds however that he doesn’t think “anyone will notice any major changes” to the south Main street properties “as they drive by in the coming months.” Murphy explained that his company was focusing on interior improvements and also making the property run smoother. He noted that professional property management had been put in place through 7 Hills property Management, which is a sister company to Baystate investment Fund LLC. a functioning laundry room, window repair, and a better dumpster system are all improvements which have happened to the property so far, or are slated to happen soon. parking issues are also going to be addressed. Murphy adds that they will be cleaning up the front
SOLD - Recently purchased blocks 5 & 11 South Main Street. Photo by AliviA Mussulli
Historical Society hosts guest speaker Northbridge historical society will meet Monday, March 2nd, at 7:00 p.m. at the Whitinsville social library. Following a short business meeting led by President John W. Walker, Jr., Chuck Arning, former Ranger with the blackstone River valley National heritage
of the building at some point, possibly as early as this summer. Murphy also said there will be an office for lease there later in the year. Murphy said he likes “that uxbridge is a small town but feels much larger because of the commercial districts like Main street and Quaker Highway.” Murphy owns another property in uxbridge located at 824 Quaker street which is currently being used as a satellite lot for Flagg rV. Murphy said his company hopes to purchase more property in uxbridge. Murphy, whose father grew up in uxbridge, notes that “uxbridge is unique because it has an urban feel but is a small town.” He feels uxbridge’s proximity to both Worcester and providence highways “will continue to make uxbridge a desirable place to live.” the south Main street property was owned by gerry skeean until his death in 2018. His daughter has been running the property since that time. Murphy said the family “had done a great job of running the property over the years." the property houses a subway, the uxbridge House of pizza, the depot Cafe and apartments. Baystate investment Fund LLC has purchased and rehabbed several properties in the Worcester area including Widoffs Bakery, Weintraups deli, Buckeyes garage and 1 Kelley square, to name just a few.
Park, will present a program that he has been researching since retiring. "the Graves be A Walkin’" tells the story of irish famine orphans who arrived at Grosse ile. What was their fate? the public is invited to attend and admission is free.
~ INDEX ~ Town news ..............Page 4 Calendar...................Page 17 Senior Corner ..........Page 21 Society .....................Page 23 School news............Page 25 business news........Page 27 Sports.......................Page 29 Classified .................Page 31