SWAMPSCOTT — The Community Life Center Feasibility Study Task Force met Tuesday night to discuss community outreach strategies, continue identifying potential locations, and discuss responses to a survey that asks residents for their input on recreational space.
The task force was formed following an August 2024 vote by the Select Board, and has since been meeting regularly to determine Swampscott’s interest in building a community life center.
The proposed center has been under discussion in town for several years, and is being explored as a potential multi-use facility that could include recreational spaces, fitness areas, community gathering rooms, programming for seniors and families, and other public amenities. Task force members said the current feasibility study phase is focused on determining whether there is sufficient public support for such a project, what residents would want included, and what sites might realistically work.
The discussions predate even the formation of the task force, after a 2019 community needs assessment from UMass Boston commissioned by the Swampscott for All Ages Committee recommended the town “expand the number of locations for participation in intergenerational social gatherings and recreation.”
Task force member Robert Powell cited that study as the real beginning of this project.
“That was when the very first mention of the need for a community life center was sort of born,” he said. “So it’s not a relatively new idea, it’s just taken us a long time to get to this point.”
After months of refinement, the task force recently launched a public survey to gather community input, which members estimate has generated roughly 400 responses so far. The town has partnered with Abacus Builders, a Boston-based consulting firm, to help gather and assess responses and move through this stage of the feasibility study process.
David Eisen, a partner at Abacus, joined the meeting and spoke generally about what he had seen throughout survey responses. According to that discussion, respondents have largely supported the concept and expressed interest in a wide range of potential features and programming.
“What we’re hearing is everybody wants a community life center, and everybody wants everything in it,” Eisen said. “And that is a bit simplistic, but it’s not that far off … there wasn’t substantial components of this where there was no interest.”
Task force members said their current focus is on expanding participation in the survey and exploring other avenues of public feedback to strengthen the data collected before moving further into the planning process. Members discussed additional outreach through the farmers market and emails to Town Meeting members and other town directories.
Members also said that one challenge of the process has been explaining that the project is still in its early phases, and that no decisions have been made or will be made solely based on the feasibility study.
“I think people … didn’t understand that it wasn’t happening,” task force member Charlotte Daher de Garcia said. “They were like, ‘Oh wow, we’re getting this. Where is it going to go? When is it going to be built?’”
Daher de Garcia said the enthusiasm for the project was “really lovely to think about,” but stressed that the feasibility study should be seen as the task force gathering data and “doing its homework to justify the need” for such a space to be built before any actual decisions are made or funds are promised.
The task force also spent some time discussing possible site concepts presented by Eisman, ranging from private land to spaces that the town already owns — including the former Hawthorne-by-the-Sea property, for which the Select Board is soon expected to begin the long-term RFP process, and the former Clarke Elementary School, which is currently being used by the Swampscott Recreation Department under a contract that is subject to renewal in the Fall of 2026.
“I do think if it’s possible to focus on property that the town already owns, that’s ideal,” said task force chair Anneka Kumli, citing some potential pushback from residents if the discussion turned to the town acquiring another property.
Kumli also discussed how the task force might address questions surrounding the potential cost of the project and how the future facility could generate revenue through memberships, programming, rentals, and community events.
“I think it’s an important question. Cost is always on our mind as we’re looking to develop any kind of public use spaces for a town,” she said. “At this point, we’re still very much in collecting feedback … we are too early in the discussion right now to be able to give you a concrete answer.”
The task force concluded the meeting with plans for an in-person public information session, to be held at the Clarke School on June 25 at 6:30 p.m. Members said that meeting would be an opportunity to share survey responses with the public, view conceptual models of potential amenities, and get more feedback before discussions become more focused on individual sites.
In the meantime, the task force will continue the push for community input through survey responses. The survey is now open and can be accessed through the town website or via this link.
