Public-Private Partnership Between Town, NYA Being Studied

By John Voket

Citing the idea as one of three possible options to provide the town a future recreation center, First Selectman Pat Llodra and Parks Commission Chairman Ed Marks briefed The Newtown Bee December 10 about exploring a town acquisition of — or partnership with — the nonprofit Newtown Youth Academy at Fairfield Hills.

Providing detailed floor plans of how retrofitting of the existing, cavernous indoor recreation center might work, along with comparative space benefits between the existing facility and a proposed standalone community center currently on the town’s capital plan for $15 million, Mr Marks and Mrs Llodra said the public-private option with NYA presents “exciting” opportunities.

Both officials cautioned, however, that the proposal is only in initial stages of exploration. Mrs Llodra said that conversations about facility infrastructure, and how the town could negotiate a new partnership with an organization it is already engaged with in a long-term land lease, have just commenced.

“It would be a complex relationship to develop, particularly considering how the existing land-lease is structured,” Mrs Llodra said the morning of December 10. She said besides the reconstituted partnership arrangement, many other feasibility issues involving retrofitting the facility to meet the needs of Parks & Rec officials mean that an eventual goal of making NYA the town’s recreation center is still “years out.”

“That being said, if it is the right thing to do, I’m confident those issues can be resolved to reach an appropriate and responsible arrangement between the town and the business owner, Peter D’Amico,” Mrs Llodra said.

The first selectman said today, the town is giving equal weight to three future options: the NYA idea, continuing on its course to develop a standalone rec center and pool facility in the area of NYA, as well as possibly converting an existing school or other town facility for that purpose.

“Our eventual goal is to find a solution to the community’s needs,” Mrs Llodra said, adding the ideal facility would combine active and passive recreation opportunities, along with a swimming facility, a teen center, gym space, and a playground or play space.

Space Study Ongoing

In regard to the possible conversion of an existing school or town building for those purposes, the first selectman said the district’s space study is still ongoing, and she wants to provide the necessary time for that project to be completed.

At the same time, Mrs Llodra and other town agencies and officials are looking at a future landscape where space needs must be met for the Police Department, a senior center, and Hook & Ladder, which just saw its own proposed building project defeated by a Inland Wetlands ruling.

“From a space needs perspective, it has to be looked at as a single entity with many complicated moving parts,” she said. “And we have to approach the possibilities with extreme attention to detail, while considering the most effective and cost conscious outcomes.”

Cost is a primary concern in considering the proposed standalone rec center, which has already been reconfigured from an original plan that would have split and shared the facility’s floor space with Newtown Senior Center’s administrators and membership.

In today’s dollars, Mrs Llodra said the projected cost to deliver the latest proposed standalone facility and pool complex could exceed $18 million, and the project in the current Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) in year four at $15 million would generate a minimum of a four percent per year multiplier factored in for inflation.

“So we have to measure any options against those standards, considering we’re looking at least four years out,” she said, adding that in the big picture, the proposal at this point “is nothing more than a possibility.”

Representatives for the town, according to Mrs Llodra, are currently engaging Mr D’Amico in “productive discussions.” But, Mrs Llodra said, “Mr D’Amico is a private business person, so the town comes to the table with a very different point of view.”

Parks Commission            Discussion

The first selectman said she expects Mr Marks to open public discussion on the Park & Recreation Department’s role in the proposal on Tuesday, December 14, during the Parks and Recreation Commission’s regularly scheduled meeting.

“It’s pretty exciting though,” Mr Marks told The Bee Friday as he readied his presentation for fellow Parks & Rec commissioners, “especially considering the high price tag we are anticipating for the standalone building.”

At this point, Mr Marks said he does not see how his department could scale back any more on the existing standalone plans to meet what could be a budget reduction of several million dollars.

“As a cheaper alternative, [the NYA proposal] conceptually seems to work,” he said. Mr Marks said the next step might be to see how the Parks & Rec staff see “meshing” programs already ongoing at NYA. And he foresees a meeting among all interested parties happening before the end of the year to give everyone a chance to regroup before moving forward.

He said the lease implications between the town and NYA have to be hammered out before the next steps in exploring the partnership commence.

“It will be a long-term process, and we’re just in the preliminary phase of exploration,” the Parks and Recreation Commission chairman said. “The major concerns are financial, and I’m thankful I’m not the one working on the financial aspects... yet.”

Parks & Recreation Director Amy Mangold said she is most thrilled at the prospect of being able to greatly expand recreation and programming availability for residents during the day.

“There are a lot of programs we’d like to do, including swimming, that we can’t do now given the tight availability of indoor rec space in the schools and limited access to pools,” she said. “It’s a very exciting idea, but at the same time, we need to be sure the public understands this is very preliminary and by no means decided.”