Quality of life concerns related to the expansion of the RAC

I am a resident at Blind Brook Lodge and believe the current Rye Art Center is an asset to our community. However, I feel additions to the art center beyond its current footprint will cause chaos in our neighborhood. Milton Road cannot accommodate additional traffic beyond its current workload. The road is a main thoroughfare to town and many schools and churches. For local residents access to our homes will be severely hindered. During the day, children make up a high percentage of pedestrian and bike traffic and this causes safety concerns. Milton is a narrow two lane road, additional car and bus traffic will cause backups in the around the schools and into the traffic circle leading to and from town.

I also have concerns about the sustainability of an expanded arts center. I understand a sizable donation along with planned fund raising is the anticipated means of erecting the new center but I question the sources of funding for maintaining the center. I believe at present, donations provide some of the monies required to sustain the current center. Tuition for classes offered and membership fees are also a source of income. However I believe these sources do not completely cover costs of running the current RAC. Maintaining a new larger center will be more costly and I have not heard if the current donor has agreed to support ongoing costs. I know the hope is that membership and tuition fees for programs and events will be a substantial source of funding for the expanded center but given the current economy I question how that is going to work. Unfortunately when household budgets are tight families often have to sacrifice lessons and programs that generally add so much to life but are no longer seen as necessities. I worry what will happen to a re-zoned area if there is not enough money to maintain the center. I think about the Wainright house where they have had offer the premises for catered events in order to generate revenue to keep the lights on. I believe if the same situation occurred with the expansion of RAC it would create a serious hardship for our neighborhood.

Thank you for the opportunity to express my concerns.

Helena Duffy

Blind Brook Lodge