Thanks to a gift from the GE Foundation, the town of Newtown can design and construct a new community center. The gift of $15 million will be applied to fund construction and operation costs.

Plans for a new community center at Fairfield Hills, which ground to an abrupt halt early this year, had restarted by year’s end, coming closer to a final proposal. Roughly one year ago the failed plans had included the concept for a Phase I: senior center construction and an aquatic center. The senior center included multipurpose rooms, arts and crafts space, a kitchen area, storage, administrative areas, recreation and activities space. Additional future phases had included, among other plans, Parks and Recreation administrative space and programs.

Unraveling began in March with questions regarding a Phase I senior and aquatic center construction. Fairfield Hills Authority member Ross Carley had voiced his desire to see a community center, not a senior center, in Phase I, because he feared that a Phase II might not happen.

Phases II and III could have included the construction of a connector to the NYA Sports & Fitness Center, if the town chooses to purchase that facility for potential community and administrative uses for the Parks and Recreation Department, or the construction of additional community space, added to Phase I.

Part of what threw the original plans off course included a possible misconception that the Phase I space for a senior center would be dedicated, rather than shared, space available to the community.

In a forum just days away from First Selectman Pat Llodra’s decision to stop planning, she fielded questions about the first proposal from a room filled with curious residents. They had concerns about the funding, use of space, and how well the facility would serve Newtown. Many were particularly concerned that the project, aside from the aquatic center, was mostly for senior citizens and not a true community center.

“Questions were appropriate,” Mrs Llodra said. What also “came across loud and clear” to her was that “early communications on concepts led people to believe [plans] were fixed and [residents] would not be able to interact.” She realized that she and others presenting the project to the public “may not have used the right words” to “get the message across.” Mrs Llodra said, “If we have not yet succeeded in communicating thoroughly with the community, I don’t want to push something through.”

Ultimately, she did not.

Just four days later and prior to an April referendum date where residents could vote to support the community center project, Mrs Llodra issued a statement recommending to the Board of Selectman that action on the community center project “not go forward as planned.”

After Mrs Llodra put a stop to that planning and the task force behind it, a new group soon convened, and by December its members were also talking about a phased approach, hoping that town funds through a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) would make future phases possible to accommodate a broader scope of uses. An aquatic center, ice arena, and community space for general gathering, arts, seniors, and more, filled the year-end conversations.

The CIP until recently included $10 million in the year 2016-17 and another $5 million the following year. But in early December, the Legislative Council chose to reduce those funds, creating a wrinkle for the new community center committee working on a new proposal.

A New Approach

By the first week of May the new group of residents took an oath to serve as the new Community Center Commission. Members received their charge to develop a proposal to create a location that does not yet exist in town, acts as an anchors for residents to come together, serves the needs of the entire community, and more.

By month’s end, Andy Clure, a member of the previous community center planning, and resident Brian Hartgraves co-chaired the board, which includes several parents of 12/14 victims. The votes to accept both men as chairs were unanimous.

The commission then began an aggressive schedule by meeting twice monthly, forming subcommittees, and contacting nearby facilities to better understand how those spaces are run and serve the population. Members also sought community feedback, reaching out to those groups who have the most need for community center space and programming.

In August, after several months of meetings, the Community Center Commission was “still being very cautious and not voicing too much of an opinion” about specific ideas for the facility’s use, said Mr Clure.

The group was awaiting feedback from the public, for which there were several upcoming opportunities, including a survey and open forums, he said.

“After we get data back,” he said, “we will begin discussing where interests are and hone [ideas] and talk about features, a business model.”

In the following weeks the commission held Q&A forums and conducted a survey to help members understand public opinion and which uses would gain support.

In late September Mr Clure had said, “We are looking to get feedback from the town for what they want to see in the community center. There are some broad questions, and there is also a part to write in what they would like to see.”

Commissioners hoped to hear from everyone in town, he said. Is there support for an aquatic center, an ice rink, and an arts venue? What elements will be included in a community center plan? All of these are up to the residents, he said.

Based on the survey questions, he said, “We should be able to see what each demographic is looking for.” Once results were in, the commission saw support for an aquatic center, general gathering space, and an ice arena, among other interests. The questions then became how best to spend the GE gift, which could not cover everything desired. Commissioners in December were eyeing a phased project, looking toward CIP money to supplement the GE gift. However, the legislative Council in December moved to reduce coming years’ CIP funds from $10 million to $5 million for year one, and from $5 million to $2.5 million, the following year.

In other forums, residents spoke in favor of a 50-meter pool, ice rink, senior services, a community gathering place, the space for the arts.

At another public forum, attendees’ primary appeals included space to house arts, senior activities, a pool, an ice rink, and a general gathering place. But with those interests came questions: Could a center be all of those things, and how far will the $10 million gift for center construction from the GE Foundation be able to stretch?

As information gathering and members’ points of view coalesced, they took a show of hands to see who favored what possibilities. Finding support were ideas for an aquatic center and another for an ice rink. Several members supported a 50-meter pool, while others favored a shorter 25-yard pool. By the end of 2015, the commission had not yet offered its recommendation for a new community center to the Board of Selectmen.