After making a formal motion last month to recommend a permanent memorial design to the Board of Selectmen (BOS), the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission (SHPMC) met on September 13 to prepare for the upcoming BOS presentation on September 17.

The design the commission chose was a personal passion project created by Daniel Affleck and Ben Waldo of SWA Group, based out of San Francisco, Calif. It was commonly referred to as SH37 by the commission in the beginning of the selection process.

Since being narrowed down as the top design, Mr Affleck and Mr Waldo have enlisted the help of a third partner, SWA Principal and Landscape Architect Justin Winters.

During the SHPMC meeting, a slideshow document was displayed on a large screen for members to view as they went slide-by-slide. The commission took time adding information they felt was important to convey to the BOS and reworked the wording of some phrases for better clarity.

The group’s mission statement was written out on one of the first slides, as well as a brief history of the commission. First Selectman Dan Rosenthal, who was in attendance, said to the group, “It’s fair to say you’ve all weathered a lot.”

Other key points that were mentioned in the slideshow included the overall design selection process, selecting SH37 (now referred to as The Clearing), and specific details about the chosen design. A variety of design images were also supplied to give a visual of the different elements of the permanent memorial.

The SHPMC will present their recommended design to the BOS at its meeting on Monday, September 17, at 7:30 pm, at the Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

The next regularly scheduled public SHPMC meeting will be on the evening of Thursday, October 11, also at the Newtown Municipal Center.

For more information about the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission, visit newtown-ct.gov/sandy-hook-permanent-memorial-commission.