![An view of the 5-acre site (shaded gray) next to the Newtown Youth Academy on the town-owned Fairfield Hills campus, where a new community center is proposed.]()
An view of the 5-acre site (shaded gray) next to the Newtown Youth Academy on the town-owned Fairfield Hills campus, where a new community center is proposed.
NEWTOWN – If town leaders learned anything from a spirited discussion Tuesday about the proposed community center being built with a $15 million gift from General Electric, it’s that there needs to be more spirited discussion about it.
“I would like to have at least three more meetings about it because there was a lot of interest and a lot of good questions and a lot of good information exchanged,” First Selectman Pat Llodra said Thursday.
There was also criticism that the concept for the first phase of the project is too focused on meeting needs of seniors, to the exclusion of the rest of the town.
“The town is painting this community center picture, but the plans are to build a senior center first,” said Kevin Fitzgerald, a former member of the town’s Legislative Council. “I think that is where some of the resentment is coming from.”
The town is proposing construction of a 35,000-square-foot building on a 5-acre site next to the Newtown Youth Academy on the town-owned Fairfield Hills campus.
The concept for the new building is a senior center, a two-pool aquatic center, and space for parties, classes, and exhibitions. Future phases of the project include the possibility of buying the youth academy building to house recreation programs.
For now the town is focusing on gaining voter approval on April 28 to accept the GE gift and complete the first phase of the project.
Fairfield-based GE surprised Newtown one year after the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre by donating $15 million for a community center where all ages could interact. GE donated $10 million toward design and construction and $5 million toward operating costs.
