$1.4 million OK'd for new senior center.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

Byline: Karen Nugent

CLINTON - A second big-ticket item was approved at Wednesday's annual town meeting. Voters approved $1.4 million for a new senior citizen center by a vote of 512-27, according to Assistant Town Clerk Holly P. Sargent.

The measure received even more votes than the $2.675 million request to buy the Rauscher Farm for town-owned open space, which was approved in the preceding article by a 479-50 vote.

Both purchases also require passage by voters at special elections for Proposition 2-1/2 debt exclusions, to be held within 90 days.

A site for the senior center was not specified in the town meeting article, but the Council on Aging would like it to be at 239 Chestnut St., where the American Legion post

sits. The post is under a sales agreement with Donald Dobeck, a local contractor who wants to raze it and build a new senior center. However, Mr. Dobeck needs a special permit from the Zoning Board, and clarification on some public bidding questions.

The current center, at 200 High St., is in a building owned by the Lancaster-based Perkins School. The space has become too small for senior programs, council members said.

In other business, voters Wednesday

rejected a citizens' petition to revoke the town's lease with the Clinton Fish & Game Protective Association for an old rifle range off South Meadow Road. The association signed

the lease in April, and plans to allow target shooting, hunting, camping, archery and other outdoor activities. The range is on town-owned land in Lancaster, just over the Clinton line, and shooting and dirt bike use there have been a sore spot with neighbors for years.

Earlier this month, the Lancaster building inspector issued a cease-and-desist order on shooting at the 12-acre parcel until the sportsmen's association gets a permit from the Lancaster Zoning Board. Shooting has been ongoing at the range, and on nearby private property, since the 1920s.

A related citizens' petition, to prohibit the discharging of firearms within 5,000 feet of school property, was also defeated Wednesday. The range is not far from the high school athletic fields off Route 110.

Also given thumbs-down was a proposal to combine the...