Bresnahan Building Committee gets permission to start construction
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

The existing building will be removed to make room for the new scouting center. JOURNAL PHOTO/CAITLYN KELLEHER

The Bresnahan Memorial Pool Renovation Committee is ready to build the new scouting center near the center of Ashburnham, and hopes to get the foundation into the ground before the winter weather.

Members of the building committee approached Selectmen on Monday to ask for formal permission to build a new scouting center as well as to ask for some financial support for the project.

"We'd like to put the foundation in this fall," said committee member Valorie Daigle.

The group is hoping to have the foundation in so that students from Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School can put up the framing and do the carpentry work during the spring semester.

Selectmen voted to sign a letter allowing the group to build on town-owned land located on Route 12 at the intersection with River Street.

The Selectmen also voted to waive the building permit fee. The committee will still have to meet all of the regulations or receive the appropriate exceptions.

The group has raised $32,480.02 as of their meeting with the Board of Selectmen on Monday, Sept. 17, and Building Committee Chairman Ronald Skaife said they need $40,000 to start building. The entire project is expected to cost $125,000.

The group has held a variety of fundraising activities over the course of the last four years. One of the upcoming fundraisers is the road race in honor of Brian Simmons, an Ashburnham resident killed by a drunk driver in 2003.

"We're still out there raising money," Skaife said.

The committee members asked selectmen to put an article on the fall Town Meeting warrant asking the town to match the funds already collected.

Selectmen expressed concern about funding the project because fears that state aid will come in very low during Fiscal Year 2009 and that new growth won't be able to keep up with the situation.

"This really is a noble cause," said Selectmen Chairman Mark Carlisle. "It's just a question of how we can do it. I just don't want to make promises we can't keep."

Dennehy, who spoke about the "dire" fiscal times, said "I'm reluctant to say no because it is something we need in town."

Daigle said through the course of fundraising the committee has been asked several times why the town was not contributing to the project.

"All I can ask is that you take it under advisement," Daigle said.

The selectmen also agreed to put an article on the fall Town Meeting warrant to establish a trust fund group to oversee the property and the maintenance of the area.

The new building will replace one that was constructed in the 1800s. The building's foundation will start in same location as the current building and then stretch closer to the pond.

The area, which was once the town pool and the scouting house, was dedicated to William Bresnahan, who was the first Ashb urnham resident to die in Vietnam.

The plans for the new building show a variety of spaces.

Including in the plans is a kitchen on the ground floor that is comparable in size to the large room that used to be in the Town Hall. The kitchen in the basement of the Town Hall is being removed during the ongoing renovations.

The Scout House will also include a large room, which is also going to be equivalent to the meeting room, which used to be in the Town Hall basement.

There will also be many storage areas for the Boy Scouts equipment and supplies.

The building committee is still trying to determine how to pay for the elevator to be installed, so that if there is need the second floor of the building can be used in the future.

"It is easier to put in during construction," Daigle said.

If the elevator is not installed during construction, an elevator shift will still be in place so the elevator can be installed in the future with limited disruption to the building.