Plymoth Hall:

Park & Rec’s Next Resource?

By Steve Bigham

The Parks & Recreation Department has its eyes fixed on Plymouth Hall on the campus of Fairfield Hills. Staff members have been looking forward to getting a closer look at what may very well become their new home.

On March 2, Jim Hornyak of Tunxis Management led Parks & Rec Director Barbara Kasbarian and staff members Deborah Denzel and Barbara Lynn Slosson through the dark building. It is a building few people have visited since it closed for good back in 1994.

Plymouth Hall once served as the recreational facility for the hospital’s residents and staff. It comes complete with gymnasium, auditorium, bowling alley, canteen, music room and numerous rooms for arts and crafts. Several kilns still remain in the building.

The town is poised to purchase the 185-acre campus from the state in the coming months. The recommendation of the Fairfield Hills advisory committee is that Plymouth Hall be designated as a multi-generation community center and a consolidated site for many Parks & Recreation indoor programs. The two-story building has plenty of space – 52,270 square feet.

Mrs Kasbarian sees Plymouth Hall providing residents with the kind of recreational facility never before seen in this town. Her department often receives calls from new residents who are surprised by the lack of municipal recreation facilities in Newtown.

“Plymouth Hall would serve more members of the community. We would be able to offer more varied programs. We wouldn’t have to rely totally on schools for our space. We could offer daytime and nighttime programs with no worries about cancellations,” Mrs Kasbarian said.

Currently, Parks & Recreation relies nearly 100 percent on the schools for program locations. Often, programs are cancelled due to school activities, which take precedence. Mrs Kasbarian says Plymouth Hall would allow Parks & Recreation to expand its current list of programs and hold them all in-house. In addition, she said, the facility could provide residents with treadmills, free weights, bikes, rowers, etc.

The estimated cost to realize Plymouth Hall as a multi-purpose municipal building would be $4.3 million. That cost includes $3.8 million for renovations and upgrades, $270,000 for asbestos and lead abatement, and $169,000 for parking lot construction. The estimated cost to purchase Fairfield Hills from the state is $5.5 million.