Belmont weighs emergency options for new community center

Discussions on how to revamp the center began around 2019, though they were sidelined during the pandemic to attend to more urgent issues. But since the end of last year, numerous community discussions, including open houses, have taken place to understand what residents would like to see from the facility in its new state. 

In addition to a host of new amenities — which could potentially include a pool, dog park and pickleball courts — a central question is how much the new building should accommodate relief services for residents in the event of an emergency, including natural disaster. 

While having a community center with the capacity to offer a range of emergency shelter and services is appealing, Parks and Recreation Director Brigitte Shearer said it also comes with cost tradeoffs.

“There are some other building code requirements if you name yourself a higher-level shelter … that then drive up the cost of the building, so we are trying that sweet spot where we might have access to some infrastructure funding without having to over-engineer the building,” Shearer said.  

Group 4 Architects Principal Jonathan Hartman said the city could plan for a resiliency center, which is scaled down from a full-scale emergency shelter. 

“Since those things exist in a different type of capacity elsewhere already, the proposal to date has not been to replicate that level of intensity for this facility,” Hartman said. “A lot of the resiliency centers that we see on the Peninsula that would be similar in context to this have emergency generators that are able to air condition three-quarters of the building, so it becomes a cooling shelter, or different things at different times because it has those extra measures.”

Hartman added that the current center could also remain in operation while the new building is constructed where the soccer fields are situated.