Newtown Youth Academy Reshapes Fairfield Hills

By Kendra Bobowick

Peter D’Amico’s personal vision for a sports complex is finally showing signs that anyone can see now that the first brick-faced wall for his privately funded Newtown Youth Academy (NYA) has been raised.

“It’s getting to the exciting part now,” he said Wednesday morning, hours away from watching a crane tilt up a poured-in-place, brick and concrete wall as his family and others jostled for a better view in a crowd of more than 50 onlookers. Among them were Claris Construction Inc architect Philip Clark, Claris crews working the slab walls into place, business associates, and officials, including First Selectman Joe Borst and Fairfield Hills Authority Chairman Robert Geckle. Mr Clark said that erecting the walls is “the first thing we do” after pouring the slab where the building will sit. Describing how quickly people will see a change in the Fairfield Hills skyline, Mr Clark said, “One day you’ll drive by and there will be a huge building standing there.”

Both he and Mr D’Amico look toward November 1, their target date for the facility to open its doors to the public, with confidence.

“We will be open,” Mr Clark said. Eying the academy’s progress so far, Mr D’Amico added, “For the size of the building, it’s a good pace.”

Wednesday afternoon found a huge shadow cast as a crane raised the first wall of Newtown Youth Academy into a standing position. Rather than using traditional construction methods with scaffolding and masons, Mr Clark is using what he calls a safer, quicker, and less expensive method.

“You pour your walls on the ground and tilt them up,” he said. The building’s scheme follows another of his goals. It is “green,” he said.

The construction follows the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, which, according to the US Green Building Council’s website, is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED provides building owners and operators with the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their building’s performance. The academy will also use solar panels.

Solar Works Inc President Ron French, who was among the crowd gathered to watch as pieces of the walls began to give the academy its future shape, is excited that his company will provide the solar panels he estimates will provide as much as 31 percent of the electricity for the facility. Mr French also explained that architects had designed the building to be oriented with the panels and the sunlight.

Jodi Gold of Solar Works said simply, “The panels are vital to the project.” In fact, the panels add to the LEED ratings.

Overall he and Mr D’Amico aim for an environmentally friendly building that they intend to introduce to students in town.

“We’re hoping to explain the renewable energy,” Mr Clark said.

After years of hoping to build a facility for residents, and youth especially, Mr D’Amico entered an agreement with the town last year to start construction on the 86,000-square-foot academy with indoor courts, fields, track, and more.

By January 2008 the word “Demo” marked the side of Bridgewater House, a former state hospital building that soon fell to make room for the academy. Once debris was cleared, a groundbreaking ceremony took place in early February.

The academy will sit adjacent to a proposed recreation/community center, for which the Parks and Recreation Department recently received funding for a design phase. The needs of Newtown’s senior citizen population will be included in the facility. With this in mind, Mr D’Amico has worked out terms for the recreation department and seniors to use his facility.

“The indoor track will be a place for seniors to walk in the winter — it’s apparent that was needed,” Mr D’Amico said.