Sandwich's senior citizens - and those moving toward that designation - have not forgotten their dream of a new senior center.

The Sandwich Senior Center shares the Human Services Building with the nursing department, emergency management and the recreation department. A lack of adequate program, office and storage space has spurred the Sandwich Council on Aging to begin to take steps to construct its own building.

John Bryant, chairman of the council's board of directors, said two subcommittees are being formed. One committee will develop plans for the building that would house the senior center. A second committee, headed by former selectman Jan Teehan, is recruiting people to handle fund-raising.

The committees are putting together a master plan that includes all the permitting steps required and a timeline for obtaining funding, Bryant said.

"Shaw's [supermarkets] is the biggest variable right now. Shaw's said six months ago that while they are putting up their new building [proposed for a site near the intersection of Cotuit Road and Quaker Meetinghouse Road] they could put up a new building for us. We would have to pay for it, of course," Bryant said.

Shaw's latest plan is to build a supermarket, a small office building, apartments for employees, and a few units of subsidized housing. Their contractor could also build a senior center. "They have done that kind of thing in other communities," Bryant said. "The key is timing." It includes getting approval from the Cape Cod Commission. The council on aging must also be able to come up with the funding in a timely way, he said.

Jan Timmons, executive director of the council on aging, said the project depends on whether the Massachusetts Council on Aging will help finance the building project. She and her counterparts from around the state will attend a meeting with the state agency Feb. 21 to get an update on the availability of state building funds.

"Other communities are looking to upgrade their senior centers too. It's epidemic," Timmons said. Competition for state funding will be strong. After getting state information, the Sandwich Council on Aging will have a formal meeting to discuss how to proceed, she said.

Bryant, Timmons and Teehan conducted a space needs analysis. They determined the new senior center should have 18,000-square feet.

A year ago, Timmons thought seniors would require 12,000-square feet at a total cost of $2.3 million. Bryant said Thursday the growing number of seniors in Sandwich changed the picture. He said Timmons' figures last spring predated the offer by Tedeschi Realty, developers of Shaw's, that was made last fall.

Bryant said the Forestdale School has a septic system that does not receive enough sewage to work efficiently. Tedeschi's offered to run a pipeline from the new Shaw's market to the school. The senior center could tap into it, Bryant said. Shaw's also offered to furnish land for the senior center and a library in exchange for running an access road through town property.

"We are still discussing whether it should be a one-story or two-story building. Both have advantages," Bryant said. "With a one-story building you don't need an elevator. A two-story building needs less roofing and foundation," Bryant said.

Ideas for a new senior center have been discussed for many years. Last year the Community Campus Committee debated the merits of building a municipal complex on town-owned land behind the A&P off Quaker Meetinghouse Road. Now, some of that land is up for sale to commercial developers.

At that time, one idea was to combine the senior center and the library. As an exercise, architect Grattan Gill had some of his architecture students at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island design a combination library/senior center.

Timmons said the idea of combining the library and senior center is still in the back of people's minds. It all depends on funding, she said.

Another idea for a free-standing senior center, sans library, can be found in a watercolor rendering by architect James Sullivan.

Timmons said the Sandwich Council on Aging served 1,076 people in the first half of fiscal 2003. Between visits to the senior center and calls seeking information, the senior center had 25,757 contacts (called units of service) in that time period. In all of fiscal 2002, there were 38,946 units of service. Timmons said the figures include everything, from people who participated in wellness exercise programs to craft classes, guest lectures and special classes. The figures include walk-in visits and phone calls, she said.

She said the numbers are expected to grow even more as 2,000 baby boomers living in Sandwich, now ages 55 to 60, become senior citizens.

Timmons said the most important service her department offers is the senior center's outreach program. "It is the advocacy part of what we do for the community," she said. The center assists people in enrolling in insurance programs, obtaining meals, tax abatement advice, fuel assistance, transportation and home visits. Public education is a second component as the council on aging networks with hospitals, home care agencies and private medical professionals.

Recreation is an important component that is being sought more and more by seniors. Baby boomers will not be content to just play bridge, Timmons said.. They want classes and trips and other forms of senior recreation.

"Activities teach people a new craft or a new talent. They enable seniors to meet new people and that reduces depression. It gets them out of the house," Timmons said.

All three components are becoming hard to provide as the council on aging struggles with cramped quarters, she said.

Tana Watt, a project planner with the Cape Cod Commission, said the commission gave Tedeschi Realty a series of comments several months ago about their site plan.

"We have not received anything back from them. I think they are rethinking their project," she said.

She said Tedeschi's has not submitted anything new on its proposal for a Shaw's supermarket off Cotuit Road since the fall. The commission is waiting to hear from Tedeschi Realty before scheduling another meeting, she said.

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