Community Center Plans Please Parks & Rec Members

By Kendra Bobowick

Propping his drawings on a stand where Parks & Recreation Commission members could see them, Stephen C. Whitaker of the architectural firm Whitaker and Ames recently walked them through sketched-in rooms and spaces of a conceptual community center.

Working with the recreation members in past months to arrive at this most recent version of a schematic design, he noted different features of the work in progress.

Gymnasium space, leisure pools, patios, a lap pool, and an entrance soon “turned a corner,” he said, leading to arts and crafts space, a secondary exit, and kitchen area meant for “teaching and to prep light meals.”

“Please, offer your criticisms now; I’d rather make mistakes here,” urged Mr Whitaker. Rather than concerns, commissioners offered praise. “I love the silhouette for the campus. I think it fits perfectly,” said commission Chairman Ed Marks. The community center, which no longer includes space for senior center programming, will occupy the site adjacent to Newtown Youth Academy in Fairfield Hills where Litchfield House now stands.

Noting many of the window placements Mr Whitaker had described, Mr Marks further commented, “I like the natural light and different roof pitches … [the design] looks fantastic to me.”

“I love it,” added Parks & Recreation Director Amy Mangold.

The building’s features, as far as insulation, window placements, and lighting, are all designed with “the most standard efficiency techniques,” Mr Whittaker said. The building’s appearance is also in keeping with the campus, he added.

So far the commission has invested roughly $1 million — which includes the demolition of Litchfield House — to arrive at this phase in community center design. Additional Capital Improvement Plan costs in coming years ask for $12 million to complete the center and pool areas. Ms Mangold said future requests for funds include $700,000 in 2011 and 2012 for additional design and architectural drawing, $6 million in 2012 and 2012, and a final $5.3 million in year 2013 and 2014 to complete the center. The CIP requests must pass approval through town boards, however, and may be pushed out a year, she said this week.

“But, I hope they’ll stay,” she said Wednesday.

Mr Marks asked that Mr Whitaker next make his presentation to the Building and Site Commission, which in the last year had argued against the Board of Selectman’s consideration of a funding cut for the project.

To Mr Whitaker, Mr Marks said he believes the Building and Site members will support the project, anticipating that they will say, “Do it right, or don’t bother.” The recreation commission has “taken the project as far as we can.”

The board granted Mr Whitaker’s requests for several weeks of preparation before meeting with the Building & Site Commission.