Grant May Support Senior Center Expansion

By John Voket

Members of the Commission on Aging want to raise the roof at the town’s senior center…literally! Discussion on the matter was initiated Monday evening during the final Board of Selectmen meeting of the year. At that meeting, Newtown officials discussed the likelihood of pursuing a Small Cities grant to help underwrite an expansion to the inefficiently designed Senior Center.

During the first few minutes of that meeting in a review of correspondence, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal discussed letters he received from the co-chairs of the Newtown Commission on Aging. In one letter, Commissioner Edward Rees acknowledged a November meeting between Commissioner Ross Carley and the first selectmen, during which an expansion to the existing center was addressed.

That letter references the need for an eventual establishment of a new senior center, possibly on the grounds of Fairfield Hills, but agrees that an expansion to current center would serve as a temporary solution to space constraints in the facility.

Mr Rosenthal said Community Development Director Liz Stocker first suggested the possibility of applying for a Small Cities Grant through the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development to help minimize the expense to local taxpayers. He said one of the commissioners’ letters mentioned a new senior center in Shelton that was constructed using Small Cities Grant money.

He told fellow selectmen that the Commission on Aging agreed that a 1,500-square-foot addition could be constructed above an existing wing of the center, which is located on Riverside Road

Senior Center Director Marilyn Place said she discussed the proposal with the first selectman Tuesday morning. Ms Place said she hopes to initiate the expansion within the next two years to create more space for members and programming on the ground floor of the modern commercial structure.

“We want to raise the roof to take advantage of wasted space,” she said.

Ms Place said the modest expansion could alleviate the need for a new Senior Center facility going forward more than a decade into the future.

“We’ve got a perfect location, ground floor accessibility, with lots of unnecessary room going up to the ceiling,” she said. “If we could just use that inefficient space for storage, that would be fantastic.”

Of course, Ms Place said she would not refuse opportunities to eventually build a new facility, but that idea should be saved for future consideration.

“Everybody has a wish list,” she said. “With close to 5,000 seniors in the community, and that number growing every day, I guess it’s appropriate to think ahead. But if we can just get an expansion, our current location could absolutely serve us for the next 10 or 15 years.”

According to Ms Place, now that a formal plan is coming together, she is hoping to see the expansion project, and any grant opportunities to support it, being put into formal processes in the coming year.

“I believe the first steps toward getting the project into the CIP are now in the works,” she said.

While Ms Place is not looking for anything comparing to the so-called “Taj Mahal” senior center in Shelton, she is feeling the space crunch every time the center hosts a popular program.

“We have to begin working on accommodating our rapidly growing and very active senior population,” she said. “But at the same time, we have to be practical and use what we’ve got and make the best use of it.”

Mr Rosenthal told The Bee Tuesday that Newtown’s long-range plan of development recognized the town’s burgeoning senior population, and suggests a goal of eventually establishing a dedicated 2,500-square-foot senior center.

He explained that the second story addition to the existing facility would move the center significantly closer to its 2,500-square-foot goal. Mr Rosenthal said he also favors putting a roof over an existing open patio area and creating a three-season day room, which could also take a significant amount of pressure off the center’s program and space constraints.