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, 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, who is based out of New York.

During the SHPMC meeting on September 13, 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 Presentation

On September 17, members of the SHPMC were given the opportunity to formally present their recommended permanent memorial design to Mr Rosenthal, Selectmen Maureen Crick Owen, and Selectman Jeff Capeci at the scheduled BOS meeting.

SHPMC chair Daniel Krauss started off the presentation by thanking the Board for having them there and introduced his fellow commission members.

Mr Krauss, along with SHPMC vice chair Alan Martin and member Donna Van Waalwijk, elaborated on the slideshow presentation to give the BOS a full understanding of the work that had gone into choosing the design they were recommending.

“It just feels like Newtown,” Ms Van Waalwijk said while describing the design image that showed a bird’s eye view of the site.

It was a “labor of love,” Mr Martin said about the process.

The three members agreed that not only did the design have their commission’s unanimous support, but it also was the most favored design with the families directly impacted by 12/14.

After the presentation, Mr Rosenthal expressed his gratitude for the years of work the SHPMC put into selecting a site and design for the permanent memorial, saying, “I applaud the commission.”

Despite the group’s charge being completed, Mr Rosenthal listened to the SHPMC’s request to stay on until the design’s completion.

“My recommendation, obviously with the consent of my fellow selectmen, would be to keep the [SHPMC] intact,” he said. He would like to continue to have the group as a resource moving forward to council them and get input.

“You’ve all done a fabulous job,” Ms Crick Owen said to the commission.

Upon her inquiry about the maintenance involved with the design, Mr Winters joined the commission in the front of the room to give some overview and explained that as a group they are flexible to refine their maintenance plan if needed.

Another point that the BOS brought up was the possibility of phasing the project, if not all the elements could be completed by the SHPMC’s desired timeline of having a dedication ceremony on 12/14 next year.

Mr Winters said he is “optimistic” the construction process could be completed in under a year, but he does not see an issue with phasing the project if necessary. However, he brought up that while logistically they could, having construction going on after the memorial is open to the public would not be ideal.

With the BOS’s decision based on the selection of the design, and not maintenance or construction details, all three selectman voted in favor of accepting the SHPMC’s recommended design.

“Thank you for all your work,” Mr Capeci said.

CIP Increase

Later in the evening, during the BOS meeting on September 17, the Board reviewed the First Selectman’s Proposed 2019-20 to 2023-24 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).

The suggested CIP would provide the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial two million dollars in 2019-20 and another two million dollars in 2020-21.

This comes as an increase for the memorial, which was originally designated $250,000 for 2018-19 in the Legislative Council Adopted CIP for 2018-19 to 2022-23.

Mr Rosenthal said that although the four million dollars total he is recommending will not necessarily all be utilized, he felt the number was appropriate after consulting with Public Building & Site Chair Robert Mitchell, who also serves on the SHPMC’s Advisory Panel, about the project’s estimated cost. Mr Rosenthal added that he wants to assure when moving forward that the memorial will have an adequate reserve to bring it to completion.

The next regularly scheduled public SHPMC meeting is scheduled for 7 pm, Thursday, October 11, at the Newtown Municipal Center. For more information about the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission, visit newtown-ct.gov/sandy-hook-permanent-memorial-commission.