Medfield Residents Share Ideas for Use of State Hospital Site

A fascinating topic in town has been what to do with the Medfield State Hospital site and on Monday, July 11, Medfield town officials with discuss that dilemma with state officials in Boston.

Town Administrator Michael Sullivan, Selectmen chair Osler Peterson and Assistant Town Administrator Kristine Trierweiler will meet with state officials, including DCAM Commissioner Carole Cornelison and Jay Gonzalez, Massachusetts Secretary of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance to explore and brainstorm options the town has for reuses of the site. 

Medfield Patch and Peterson have asked residents to share their thoughts and ideas for potential uses of the State Hospital site before the July 11 meeting so Peterson can use the responses as possible discussion points with state officials. Below are the responses we have gathered thus far and we ask that you join the discussion, if you haven't already, by answering the following the question:

If you could turn the Medfield State Hospital site into anything you wanted, what would it be?

Here's what residents have suggested:

1. State Park
2. Conservation and nature center
3. Anything but the H-Street Projects
4. Nature Center
5. Housing and Community Treatment & Support for those disabled by mental illness
6. Bulldoze it and put in government subsidized housing
7. Develop as a “hugely haunted destinations”
8. A park
9. Music school
10. Concert venue
11. Conservation land for the Trustees of Reservations
12. Huge Park and conservation area with place for kids to play, bike/hike trails, etc.
13. Cultural Arts Center: Artists studios and galleries, outdoor sculpture park, theatre space, dance studios and performance space, all mixed with some lovely shops, restaurants and nature trails.
14. A family fun place, like Kimball Farms, with pitch & putt, mini-golf, driving range, ice cream, function areas, etc.
15. Movie set for horror films
16. Would make a great college or corporate campus – bring some jobs and tax revenue into the town without overly stressing town services (two other people on Facebook liked this idea)
17. Short answer is a little of everything: Housing, seniors, recreation and a lot of open space.
18. Medfield College
19. Medfield College. Kids can go right from MHS to MC and never leave.
20. Country Club – a very nice one with golf, swimming and tennis.
21. A working farm
22. Small agricultural college
23. Small agricultural college affiliated with the UMass System. Similar to UMass Medical in Worcester but the Agi in Medfield. The town would get state revenues to make it happen ad it would mean more jobs for the town.
24. UMass-Medfield
25. Medfield State College (just like Disney)
26. It's too bad they couldn't use it for a small college campus or something of that nature. Although I think many people in town would prefer it was a convent or something where the residents are quiet and don't demand services or create traffic.
27. I think that a private elementary school or college would be a great use of the grounds. I was up there in April. The buildings, while in a horrendous state of disrepair, are for the most part, architecturally stunning. The property itself is incredible.
28. The space would be great for a sporting facility as well. The town could use an indoor facility for swimming, baseball, basketball, track, and hockey. And the golf course idea had some merits as well. 
I would rather face the potential runoff of fertilizer than the 2,000 plus residents that would occupy the current plan. We can always use "green" fertilizer.
29. Definitively, not a facility that will increase the burden on our town services. And if it ends DCAM forces through the current development idea, then the state should be mandated to pony up for police/fire and school problems that arise from the inundation of people on our town.

To join the discussion, leave a comment in the box below or . Read Peterson's views on the potential uses of the Medfield State Hospital site by .