By Kendra Bobowick

A lengthy executive session yielded a swift decision to recommend a lease agreement that will bring an indoor sports complex known Newtown Youth Academy a step closer to opening at Fairfield Hills.

Wednesday evening’s Fairfield Hills Authority special meeting was a flurry of blueprints and architectural renderings revealing the proposed Newtown Youth Academy (NYA) both indoors and out. Sharing table space were outlines of an indoor soccer field, track, and side-by-side basketball courts in a two-wing building. Authority members rustled black and white sketches of the interior with other color prints displaying a brick façade, green lawns and an entranceway to the academy that resident Peter D’Amico has long hoped to see in Newtown. He has established the NYA as a nonprofit corporation. Wednesday the authority unanimously moved to recommend to the Board of Selectmen that the town enter a site and ground lease with the academy — subject to final terms approved by the town attorneys.

A draft summary of the lease between the town and the NYA is clear. The initial term of lease is 40 years. The town will lease the parcel of land encompassing Bridgewater Hall to the academy at a value of $1.2 million with a $600,000 credit to the NYA for its demolition of the former state hospital building and property cleanup. Authority Chairman Robert Geckle explained that the lease would be structured so that Newtown’s Parks and Recreation Department “gets a discount on prevailing market rates,” for using the facility. According to the lease summary, “Payment under the lease takes the form of $25 per hour reduction for 1,400 committed hours of court use over year by the town.” The NYA will finance its construction costs.

While the academy serves to fulfill the longtime desire of Mr D’Amico, the town will also benefit from the academy and resolve some of the Parks and Recreation Department’s athletic space needs.

In another motion Wednesday evening, the authority members moved to also recommend to the Board of Selectman that the Master Plan for Fairfield Hills be amended to add the NYA building to the overall scope of uses for the property and add a designated area for the Parks And Recreation Department to be located next to the youth academy.

The drawings spread across the tables included a red permanent ink outline of a future recreation and community center that will sit beside the youth academy. Authority member Walter Motyka pointed to the red outline. “An area is proposed for a Parks and Rec building.”

In the last year the recreation commission members have been working on concepts for a recreation/community center that will also house designated space for teens, seniors, and the arts. Eventually a pool will also be located at the center.

When Mr D’Amico had first approached town officials with his concepts for a sports center, he also agreed to incorporate recreation needs. Member Amy Dent asked if the youth academy facility would augment the recreation department’s needs.

“Yes,” said recreation commission Chairman Ed Marks, who said he had attended the authority meeting as an individual and not as a representative of his commission.

Although Mr Marks would have preferred that the recreation department had its own architectural renderings ready to submit to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) at the same time as Mr D’Amico, he said, “I understand the need to move forward with the nonprofit…I feel we could make it work.” The recreation facility will be a blend of senior center, teen center, a recreation center, and community pool.

Proximity is key to the relationship between the future community center and the NYA. Mr Marks told the authority, “The closer the better as far as we’re concerned.” He had hoped for plans that put the town building as close as possible to the youth academy so the seniors and teens could easily reach the courts, gym, and track.

The academy will also have locker rooms and storage space.

The approximate 70,000 square feet of academy space will fit into the campus’s current theme of brick structures. Mr Geckle said that during initial discussion with Mr D’Amico authority members had asked that the building fit into the characteristics of the campus.

While Parks and Rec members still await the beginning design phases of the community center, Mr D’Amico hopes to get his plans before P&Z next week, Mr Motyka said.

Youth Academy discussions with the town began in June. Contract negotiations began earlier in the summer with a construction start date of 2007. At the beginning of its fast track to becoming a reality was the new 40-foot by 60-foot turf field, basketball and volleyball courts, and accommodations for lacrosse, football, soccer, and other sports in an approximately 65,000-square-foot-building. Already with an architect’s renderings in hand, Mr D’Amico had wanted to begin building the complex as soon as possible. Contributing $1 million of his own funds to the Newtown Youth Academy, an agency which he established to sponsor the sports complex, he anticipated borrowing the roughly $4 million balance for construction.

Mr D’Amico’s sports complex should not be confused with another current proposal. Also attracting attention is a proposed major private indoor/outdoor recreational sports complex in a M-2A (Industrial) zone, where spectators would be allowed. The Newtown Sports Center is proposed for a 33-acre site at 93 Mt Pleasant Road.