As Newtown began coming to grips with the tremendous tragedy of 12/14, two initiatives emerged - both with a goal of bringing the town together and helping residents with their individual and collective healing processes.

In the past week, each of those initiatives came closer to fruition with the unanimous approval of a Sandy Hook site for a permanent memorial to the 20 children and six educators who were killed that day, and the approval of a community center concept to be funded and maintained with a $15 million gift from General Electric.

On October 13, volunteer members of the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission unanimously approved siting the planned memorial on a former recreational parcel off Riverside Road known as SAC Field. And four days later, the Board of Selectmen unanimously approved sending a community center concept to the town Public Building & Site Commission to begin the process of developing a design that will fit cost parameters for the new facility, presumably to be sited at Fairfield Hills.

Memorial Committee Chairman Kyle Lyddy reminded The Newtown Bee that the SAC Field site was on a short list of locations, but was not originally ranked among the top couple of locations. He said, however, upon commission members return to that site for a recent walk-through, "it just felt right."

"We went there with [SAC Field Trustee] George Lockwood, and we went there with [Town Director of Planning] George Benson," Mr Lyddy said. "And some of the thoughts expressed at the meeting were that this is probably the first location where multiple people on the committee said they felt at peace - even parents on the commission who lost children that day."

Mr Lyddy said that Brian Engel, whose daughter Olivia was a victim, said he parked his car at SAC Field on that fateful day, and he had never returned until the site visit.

"When he went back to the location, he said it seemed like he had come full circle. He and the other parents said they didn't feel awkward, there was no disagreements over this location, it just kind of came naturally," Mr Lyddy said.

Having settled on a final site, the next part of the process will involve initiating conversations with the SAC Field trustees to determine how to acquire the land.

Community Center Concept

The Board of Selectmen spent nearly 90 minutes October 17 reviewing the history, examining design options, and analyzing operational cost projections between two suggested community center options, with a goal of finalizing a plan before the end of the evening.

After hearing about those options from First Selectman Pat Llodra, officials heard a brief presentation by Geralyn Hoerauf with the firm STV/DPM, retained by the town to act as the town's representative throughout the planning, design, and construction of the Newtown Community Center.

Selectmen then invited Parks and Recreation officials, as well as a number of volunteers who had served on a Community Center Commission, and remained on as advisers when that group's work was completed, to weigh in.

Carla Kron was the first of a half dozen community center commission volunteers who supported a hybrid between Mrs Llodra's suggested options, which included either a single aquatic center with various entry and configuration opportunities, but utilizing a single filtration system, or a more expensive option with two separate pools, each with an exclusive filtration system.

In turn, Kinga Walsh, Bill Buchler, and Andrew Clure each went to the microphone strongly supporting a design that would permit at least one of two separate water bodies to remain operational if another had to be closed for maintenance or to refilter its water.

"When visiting other locations, we learned it would be a mistake to do a project with one filtration system," Mr Clure told selectmen. "Kids will have accidents - please, please, please, multiple filtration systems."

Mr Buchler reminded selectmen that throughout the long process of developing a community center concept, "12/14 is always on our mind - the reason we're doing this is to bring our town together. It can be healing, and that's what we want to do."

Parks and Recreation Commission Chairman Ed Marks advised selectmen that it would be "short-sighted to not plan for two filtration systems."

"We heard from Ridgefield, that's a mistake they made," he said, referring to a site visit at the Ridgefield Community Center complex, which has a single, multiuse pool.

Ms Walsh insisted that "One pool does not fulfill needs of the community."

"I favor a hybrid with two pools - six lanes plus an activity pool with two filtration systems," she said. "There is a great need for an activity pool. If the high school pool is in such demand, there has to be other opportunities for programming in that kind of pool elsewhere."

Selectmen Weigh In

On the issue of increased operational costs for a dual pool configuration, Selectmen Herb Rosenthal and Will Rodgers agreed that there was always an expectation that a $5 million allocation to underwrite staffing and operations expenses would require some taxpayer offset.

"It's great to have a $1 million [annual] operational offset," Mr Rosenthal said, referring to the $5 million GE gift for operations. "But we shouldn't limit ourselves because of how much it will cost when the GE money runs out. There are costs associated to activities. Don't tie our hands because of worry about operational costs."

"Herb and I are of like minds in terms of operations costs," Mr Rodgers said. "Of course it's going to cost, but we can parlay the GE money [over] 15 years to minimize public offset. It's a stretch to suggest operations costs will grow so much that it will compromise other services. And I'm concerned we don't remove lap swimming. I'm in favor of [an option] with three to six lap lanes in a separate two-filtration system pool."

Mr Rodgers also agreed with the first selectman about getting the project out of committee and on the drawing board.

The subsequent motion, which drew unanimous approval and applause in the room upon its approval, sends the project to the PBSC with an aquatics area with no fewer than a four-lap configuration, and a separate zero-entry activity pool, a community center building with no less than 13,000 square feet of flexible office and programming area, a commercial kitchen, storage areas, and a master plan that could accommodate a future addition.

That addition might provide a separate, and separately funded, senior center if officials so decide.