Town administrator: senior center is "a victim of its own success" as Brookline studies Fisher Hill reuse

Town Administrator Chaz Carey said Brookline’s senior center is overcrowded and staff are exploring ways to expand services, including a proposed community center on the Fisher Hill West parcel that could serve as a senior-center annex and multipurpose space.

Carey, the guest on the Brookline CAN age-friendly series, described the senior center as “a victim of its own success,” saying the facility was highly used and located in North Brookline, which creates access gaps for residents elsewhere in town. He said the Council on Aging and the senior center remain central to connecting older adults with services and community programs.

Why it matters: Brookline’s older-adult population represents about 20% of residents, and officials say meeting their needs requires integrating age-friendly planning across departments. Carey said the town is balancing short-term transportation and programmatic fixes with longer-term facility planning so services reach people who live outside the senior center’s neighborhood.

Town officials are weighing two broad approaches, Carey said: expanding existing services and creating dedicated new space. On the latter, he noted the town owns half of the former Newberry College campus (the Fisher Hill West parcel) and a study group is considering the parcel’s “highest and best use.” Staff proposed a community center on that site that could be used as a senior annex, recreation space and other town programming; Carey emphasized the proposal is one option and that final decisions will be subject to community discussion and will take several years.

Carey signaled the town is prioritizing adaptive reuse where feasible. “We could be using it for a different purpose… renovating it rather than knocking it down and rebuilding it,” he said, adding reuse could shorten timelines compared with demolition and new construction.

Program and access steps: Carey described several nearer-term efforts to improve access. He said override funds passed in May include dedicated money for a senior-center medical transit program to help people get to and from appointments. Carey also pointed to a transit pilot that uses a teen-center vehicle to help both teens and seniors travel to programs, and he described a memory cafe at Potterham Library that draws caregivers and people with memory concerns. He cautioned the monthly schedule for the memory cafe would be confirmed with staff.

Carey framed many of these efforts as intergenerational and cross-departmental: improving curb cuts, sidewalk levels and audible pedestrian signals “has an impact that’s across generations,” he said, benefiting people with strollers, walkers, wheelchairs, sight or hearing issues, and those who rely on transit.

What’s next: Carey urged the community to engage with the Fisher Hill West study group and noted any community center plan will be developed publicly. He also asked residents to hold town leaders accountable for how override funds are spent over the next three-year cycle.