I attended the first of three public meetings organized by the city of Northampton, in collaboration with the Community Action Pioneer Valley and Jones Whitsett Architects, at Edwards Church on March 25. These meetings are aimed at “sharing updates and gathering invaluable community input on the development of the Northampton Community Resilience Hub,” according to the March 20 press release “Northampton Invites the Community to Help Shape the Future of the Resilience Hub” posted on the city’s website.

The meeting began with Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra giving some welcoming remarks, followed by a presentation on the history of the First Baptist Church; an overview of how the city came to decide to create a resilience hub and the reasons for picking 298 Main St.; a presentation of other examples in the country of historical buildings that had been repurposed as resilience hubs; and a virtual tour of the interior of the church showing the extent to which renovations had been done to the church by its previous owner.

The organizers tried to gather the “insights and aspirations” of community members, which they deemed as “essential in shaping the future of (the) city” by allotting some time for question and answers after the series of presentations which took at least an hour, and by asking people to write down on distributed sheets of paper something about how climate change affects them and what they think are the strengths of the city.

However, I felt there was not ample time given to people to ask questions. Hence, this letter.

One nagging question I have is: What were the considerations that went into picking the First Baptist Church? In the presentation it was mentioned that one important consideration in choosing a site was parking. But as one presenter acknowledged, parking at the church is going to be a big issue. The current lot only has four parking spaces for emergency purposes.

Another question I have is: Is accessibility a prime consideration? For those driving from Main Street, one cannot turn left from the westbound side of Main Street. It is also difficult and dangerous to get in and out of the church. So how can the place be a “community space where all are welcome and where educational, arts and public gatherings can be held,” as the mayor’s office claims, when the church’s location and layout render it difficult to find parking, and inaccessible or difficult to access, a point made by a concerned citizen in his guest column in the Daily Hampshire Gazette (see “Reasons to question ‘trophy politics,” Gazette, Jan. 27). 

One final question I have pertains to the cost of purchasing the building, as well as renovating it. While the virtual tour presented to the audience demonstrated that some work had been done inside the building, much remains to be done to make it the community center the city and its architects envision it to be.

At the meeting, a presenter said that the city was still waiting for a cost estimate from contractors. But given the space of the building and the scope of projected additional work, it is not far-fetched that the city may have to shell out more than $1 million to complete the building’s renovation. This is on top of the $3.175 million that the city already spent to purchase the building and the future cost to operate the center.

Due to its parking issue, accessibility, and cost, the First Baptist Church is not a viable place to house the Resilience Hub. I do not know why the city did not consider buying instead the Hampshire County Register of Deeds building at 33 King St. or St. Mary’s Church. How about some empty lots found on King or Pleasant streets?

The location of these other sites would solve accessibility and parking issues that the 298 Main St. faces, and they might even cost less. St. Mary’s Church, for instance, sold only for $1.1 million, which included a rectory and a parking lot on State Street.

I am not sure if I will attend the second or third public hearing meetings. As someone told me, this first meeting seems more like another promotional presentation of the city’s projects rather than an opportunity for community input. It was for me their way of saying: It is a done deal. So deal with it.

Richard T. Chu lives in Northampton.