First Selectman Pat Llodra is recommending to the Board of Selectman that action on the community center project “not go forward as planned” on April 28, in a statement released Tuesday, March 31. “It is my belief that our community is best served if we allow ourselves and the community the time necessary to ensure that as many voices as possible are heard,” she wrote.

A community forum scheduled for Tuesday evening was canceled, as were forums slated for April 2 and 9.

Residents would have had the opportunity on April 28 during the annual budget referendum to cast a vote on the use of a $15 million gift from the GE Foundation for a three-phased community center project. She had indicated last week that a question on this project would be appear at the referendum unless she felt the town was not prepared to vote at that time.

Public questions arose about the rationale and planning for a phased community center project with priority given to facilities for senior citizens and a community aquatic center, funded through a GE Foundation gift of $15 million. Subsequent phases that could include community center space would come through capital improvement plan (CIP) funding.

Residents during an information session on March 24 expressed concerns about funding, use of proposed 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. Mrs Llodra said last week that “If we have not yet succeeded in communicating thoroughly with the community, I don’t want to push something through.”

After recommending canceling action on the community center on April 28, Tuesday’s statement by the first selectman suggested that the Board of Selectmen “can then take up the challenge of considering the right steps forward in determining how best to implement the generosity of GE.”

Mrs Llodra wrote that she hopes and trusts “that our relationship with the GE Foundation will not be harmed. Further, that the foundation will understand the complexity of our circumstances and will grant us the time we need to get it right.”

She has asked an advisory committee — a group working for the past year to prepare community center project plans — to cancel any future community discussions on the current proposal. Meetings had been set for Thursdays, April 2 and 9, at 7 pm, in the Newtown High School Lecture Hall.

Mrs Llodra closed her statement with a nod to the advisory committee members, writing that, “These persons worked well over these past many months to develop understandings and concepts designed to benefit our community.”

Was a referendum necessary to accept the GE gift or simply to allocate the funds? Mrs Llodra in an e-mail Tuesday morning explained that the situation “is unlike any other action we have taken.” She explained, “In most circumstances when we are doing a capital project, we create a bonding action. That bonding statement describes what the money will be used for.

“In this case, we are not bonding, but accepting a gift of funds for a purpose. My choice was to treat it the same as other capital funding actions in order to maximize opportunity for voters to engage the purpose and intent — i.e., understand and interact with how the money is going to be used.”

Current planning calls for a Phase I construction of senior center space, rooms for community use, and an aquatic center with a gradual entry pool and a lap pool. Specific design details have not yet been determined. Phase I would use $10 million for construction of a new facility adjacent to the NYA Sports & Fitness Center at Fairfield Hills, with an additional $1 million a year to support operations for the next five years.

Phases II and III could include the construction of a connector to the NYA 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. Town Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) funding is in place to support Phases II and III. The CIP includes $10 million in the year 2016-17 and another $5 million the following year.