After meeting in January, the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission (SHPMC) reconvened its monthly meetings to review three revised design options with First Selectman Dan Rosenthal at the Municipal Center on the evening of April 11.

The three revisions were based off the SHPMC’s previously selected permanent memorial design, created by Ben Waldo and Daniel Affleck of SWA Group, based out of San Francisco.

The design was selected from a pool of nearly 200 submissions. In September 2018, the SHPMC formally presented its recommendation to the Board of Selectmen (BOS), which was unanimously approved.

Mr Rosenthal explained that the purpose of the night’s meeting was not to select one of the three proposed revisions, but to get member’s feedback about the plans and compile questions for Mr Waldo and Mr Affleck to answer at a future meeting.

During the discussion, Mr Rosenthal said that the design version previously proposed to the BOS cost between 10 to 12 million dollars to create, which was unbeknownst to the commission at the time of its recommendation.

When communicating with the design firm, Mr Rosenthal requested they make modifications to get the cost at a lower price-point.

As a result, SWA Group created three revised design options with budgeting in mind.

Option one proposed removing the design’s bridges, switching from NaturalPave to asphalt, reducing pond treatment, reducing the path network, reducing plantings, removing benches, having a grading reduction, reducing irrigation, and simplifying the lighting plan. Option one is estimated to cost five million dollars.

Option two proposed switching the design’s plan from stone to concrete, removing its pavilion, removing pond treatment, reducing trees and plantings, and having a cheaper security fencing. Option two is estimated to cost four million dollars.

Option three proposed removing the design’s site circulation beyond the memorial feature access, reducing the extent of security fencing, having a steeper path (with more handrails), and slightly reducing the size of the memorial feature. Option three is estimated to cost 3.3 million dollars.

SHPMC member Alan Martin said that after reviewing these three options, he found there were some elements that were attractive, but at the same time, there were elements he was not willing to forgo, like the bridges.

SHPMC member Sarah Middeleer expressed her concerns, saying, “This just isn’t sitting right with me. I was thinking back as to how we worked doggedly for almost six years to choose the design that was right to memorialize these victims, and the one we chose was extraordinary. We were not told that we needed to establish a construction budget, otherwise I think we would have handled the whole search process differently.”

She went on to say that if they must make cuts, it should not involve sacrificing the integrity of the main design elements, like the bridges.

SHPMC member Agni Pavlidou Kyprianou followed her comments by saying that the reason she voted for this design in the first place was for the pond with the sycamore tree and for the bridge element that would allow people to walk over the man-made ponds.

“If that goes away, it makes me wonder if I would have voted for this design,” Ms Pavlidou Kyprianou said.

SHPMC member JoAnn Bacon, mother of Charlotte Bacon, who passed away in 12/14, echoed similar sentiments, saying, “I look at these three options, and this is not what we voted on. This is not what we envisioned. I, too, feel disappointed.”

Hearing the members’ concerns, Mr Rosenthal said that in hindsight, setting a budget may have been beneficial, but ultimately, he believes selecting the design based on what moved them and not on pricing was important.

The commission concluded that it would be helpful to see the designers’ cost spreadsheet as they compile their feedback.

Once SHPMC chair Daniel Krauss receives the members’ input, he said he would notify the designers and invite them to participate in the next meeting, whether it be next month or at a special meeting at a date yet to be determined.

Currently, the SHPMC’s next public meeting is scheduled to take place Thursday, May 9, at 7 pm, at the Municipal Center.

For more information about the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission, visit sandyhookpermanentmemorial.com.