Kids & Family

Community Center Feasibility TBD

The Barrington Town Council approves the hiring of a consultant to determine if building a community center is financially feasible.

Barrington should know in a couple of months if it is feasible financially to build a community center.

The Town Council approved on Monday night a $23,300 contract with a consulting firm to do a financial-feasibility study.

“We want to know how much we can raise to augment a bond issue,” said Margaret Kane, chairwoman of the Community Center Task Force. The group was formed several years ago by the Town Council to explore the creation of a community center in Barrington.

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The Task Force recommended a Providence firm, Hannah Street Consulting, to complete the study. The Town Council seconded the task force’s decision.

Town Manager Peter DeAngelis Jr. was charged with entering into the contract. That agreement is expected to be completed in about a week.

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Kane said the decision to pick a consultant was difficult.

“We had two excellent candidates,” she said.

The task force vote was 3-1 in favor of Hanna Street, she said. Donor by Design Group, a national consulting firm out of Chicago with offices in four other cities across the country but none in the East, got the other vote.

Kane said previously that the study is expected to answer several questions: What is a realistic fundraising goal? Will individual donors with deep pockets contribute? Is building a community center really feasible?

The Bayside YMCA on West Street, which just began its own expansion project, is the preferred location for a community center because it already offers programming for the Senior Center.

But the feasibility study is not tied to any specific location, Kane said in answering a question from Town Councilor Bill DeWitt, a liaison to the task force. The study is tied only to a concept, she said.


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