TINA GORMAN
WESTFIELD – City officials are awaiting a decision from the state Attorney General’s office that will position the city to submit documents to the Probate Court for authorization to use the Mary Noble estate for the site of a new senior center.
Tina Gorman, executive director of the Council on Aging, reported to the COA Board yesterday that the city has filed documents with the Attorney General in response to concerns raised about the appropriate uses of the Noble estate on Noble Street.
The issue raised by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s staff is that the property, adjacent to the Westfield Housing Authority’s Ely-Dolan Apartments, was left in Noble’s will to the housing authority to be used for the residential benefit of senior citizens. Construction, or even the concept, of senior centers was not en vogue when Mary Noble wrote her will, so the language of the will neither specifically allows nor prohibits that use.
The Noble Estate defaults to the Noble Hospital Board of Directors if it is not used by the Westfield Housing Authority for senior housing.
The city’s Law Department was preparing an appeal to Probate Court to determine if the language of the will, as written, can be extended to include the benefit to senior citizens of a senior center, which would allow the city to increase programs and services offered to senior residents, and contacted the Attorney General’s office to petition support before appealing to the Probate Court for a decision.
The city, as part of the Probate Court appeal documentation, requested the Westfield Housing Authority Board of Directors and the Noble Hospital Board to vote to support the use of the property for a new senior center
The Attorney General questioned if the property would ever be needed for new senior housing and what benefit the senior center would provide to the city’s senior citizens. The COA provided details of the social services provided to seniors through the senior center, while the Housing Authority, which has not constructed new senior housing in 40 years, voted to surplus that land.
Gorman said yesterday that the Council on Aging and the Housing Authority have provided the Attorney General’s office with a “complaint,” or petition document, addressing its concerns.
“The complaint has been filed with the Attorney General to use that property for a senior center,” Gorman said. “We’re waiting for their response. If it is positive, we’ll go forward with the Probate Court appeal.”
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said this morning that the city has complied with all of the requirements imposed by the Attorney General’s office during its review of the city’s proposal.
“There is a process that has to be followed to resolve this issue to use the Mary Noble estate for the senior center site,” Knapik said. “We’re hoping for a speedy resolution. This is the last step before we take it to Probate Court.”
Gorman said the Senior Citizen Building Committee continues to work with the architectural team hired to design a 20,000 square foot, $6 million center. The city selected two firms working in collaboration for the design effort. Dietz & Company Architects of Springfield is teaming up with Courtstreet Architects of Newton, which has designed several senior centers constructed recently in the state.
“The building committee did three sites visits in Agawam, Northborough and Franklin so the newer members got to see facilities,” Gorman said. “Joe Rizza, of Courtstreet Architects, who designed the Northborough and Franklin Senior Centers, came on the tour to answered specific questions about how and why certain things were done.”
