On Tuesday, December 4 residents of the Town of Marlborough will have the opportunity to vote on whether to keep or sell the TOMVAC building. Voting will take place from noon to 9 p.m. at the regular polling places; districts 1, 2 and 3 at St. Mary’s Hall and districts 4, 5 and 6 at the Town Hall.

Previously, three members of the Town Board – Ed Molinelli, Scott Corcoran, Alan Koenig – voted to sell the building while Supervisor Al Lanzetta and Councilman Howard Baker voted to keep it. After this 3-2 vote, several residents gathered the necessary signatures that forced the permissive referendum vote in December.

Lanzetta said when he won the election three years ago there was already talk from the three Councilmen about selling TOMVAC.

“Let’s be clear about the facts; the facts are that they wanted to sell TOMVAC to get the money and add it to whatever [late NYS Assemblyman] Frank Skartados recreation money was [$250,000] to build a new community center,” he said. “That’s the known fact, that’s what they wanted to do.”

Lanzetta pointed out that the town has assessed TOMVAC at $625,000. There were no buyers until recently when an offer of $380,000 was made and the board voted 3-2 to accept it.

Lanzetta pointed out that the idea for a community center eventually “morphed into something bigger” – a community/recreation center. Lanzetta questioned the three on where the town would locate this new building and how much was it going to cost. He said the three went around town looking at potential sites, such as the town park, a foreclosed parcel and also sought a donation of land off of the Milton Turnpike but turned up empty handed. The Town Board then decided to approach the school district about a parcel they own near the high school.

The full board approved approximately $3,000 to have their engineer develop a set of drawings for a nearly 12,000 sq/ft building, estimated to cost up to $1.9 million, targeted for the school owned site. After making their pitch the school board turned the town down a day later.

Lanzetta told his fellow board members that a new building may have to be paid for by the taxpayers through a bond. Councilman Scott Corcoran is on the record saying he would not raise taxes to pay for the structure but would seek grants and/or make adjustments to the town budget in some manner.

Lanzetta pointed out that selling TOMVAC for $380,000 is effectively giving it away.

“My point is we have this building, it’s tax-free, we don’t owe anything on it. It’s got land, it’s got parking and we have everything there. It’s a showcase right on Route 9W for people who drive by that they have a recreation center, look how beautiful it is,” he said.

Lanzetta pointed out that traffic calming methods can be employed in this area of Route 9W to assuage the fear that seniors may have about driving in and out of the site.

Lanzetta deflected the charge that he is not pro-business, citing his push for the POD business, the Bayside residential development project and the Dunkin Donuts/convenience store. He insists that selling this particular property, however, does not make any sense.

“The taxpayers would lose on this deal,” he insisted, adding that the estimated $18,000 in tax revenues coming from this new sprinkler business, “is not worth the take” and would create a scant few jobs.

Lanzetta said the three board members who want to sell the building have backed off from pushing the narrative of a community/recreation center once the public learned the accompanying price tag but are now touting the addition of a new business in the Route 9W corridor.

Recently, Mici Simonofsky spoke to the seniors at their weekly meeting about keeping TOMVAC because the town needs to have a community space. She highlighted the central problem concerning selling the property.

“If we had a written agreement that this is the parcel that we’re going to develop for a community center for the town and everything was in place [and] the plan was well thought out, then it would make sense to sell an asset in order to gain money to get the next project done,” she said. “It’s fine to want this but we don’t have a diagram and a parcel of land even on the horizon. Now with this contract of sale, that puts all the urgency on this.”

Simonofsky hopes, “there are enough people here that will show the will of the people is to save it.”

Sandy D’Alessandro’s property borders the south side of the TOMVAC parcel and is for sale. She favors selling the building to get the tax money from a business, “and if I can sell them my property I would be ecstatic.” She believes the town has plans for another site but to date, after much consideration, a suitable parcel has not been located. She is also worried about egress and ingress at the property, saying, “it is not safe for the seniors.”

Councilman Howard Baker initially favored selling TOMVAC but now wants to refurbish it for a center.

“I thought that’s the path we ought to go; it’s basically as simple as that [and] has been my thinking since that $250,000 came up,” he said.

Although Baker likes the idea of a Center, he believes there are more pressing priorities, such as fixing the Milton pier and establishing the Milton Landing Park, which will take a considerable amount of time and money to complete but will ultimately attract tourists to the town.

Baker said pumping $250,000 into TOMVAC, “would go a long way in making that a very nice building that would be very usable as a community center. It certainly was for many, many years and it could continue that way.”

Ralph Walters helped gather signatures that forced the permissive referendum.

“The central thing is the building was essentially paid for by the taxpayers of the Town of Marlborough by donations, contributions to the 200 club, through bingo that we had for eleven years and other smaller fundraisers we had over the years,” he said.

Tom Schroeder believes the town should sell the building.

“They have been trying to sell it for a number of years [and] now we have an opportunity to sell it. We have a buyer and we should go through with it,” he said, adding that he will consider the financial ramifications of a new building when it comes up at a later date.

Schroeder said the seniors now have a place to meet at the Presbyterian Church.

“I think the seniors are satisfied with this arrangement and are comfortable here. This is very convenient right here for the seniors,” he said.

Paul Quimby said TOMVAC could be rented out for special occasions and used during fire, flood and power outage emergencies. He believes selling the property is short-sighted, as it could be a valuable asset in the years to come.

“I don’t understand the Town Board; I know if I was on the Town Board and I had an offer like that, I certainly would have voted in favor of keeping it,” he said.