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Seymour First Selectman Kurt Miller
SEYMOURAs you know, the Board of Selectmen put a question on the November ballot to ask you whether we should build a new community center. I want to clarify why the Selectmen have supported this course of action and exactly what we’re asking.
The current Community Center was built in 1923 and served as Seymour’s High School and Middle School until 2001. In 2003, we received State funding to renovate one floor to turn it into our Senior Center.
Although the building has three floors, only the main level is used as our Community Center, totaling 21,329 square feet of programming space, including the gym. The bottom floor, totaling 14,774 square feet, is utilized by the Boys & Girls Club and Seymour-Oxford Food Bank. The top floor, totaling 12,424 square feet, is not in usable condition.
The current facility is in dire need of investment. Over the next few years it needs a new roof, parking lot, elevator and a modern HVAC system.
A great deal of work is required to bring the third floor to usable condition and to eliminate moisture issues. A conservative estimate for all this is $2.65 million, but costs will likely increase due to the unexpected complications that come with a building this old.
Annual operating and maintenance costs alone have averaged $160,000 over the past several years due to old, inefficient equipment. After all this investment, we’re still left with a facility in which programming like exercise classes is shoehorned into old classrooms.
Over the past several years, the Community Services Department has made great progress expanding programming for residents of all ages in spite of the limitations of the facility. We worked with our staff and visited other local municipal facilities develop preliminary concepts. The facility we envision would offer vastly improved programming and includes a pool, indoor turf field, multipurpose athletic courts, programming & meeting space and an indoor track and fitness center.
The November referendum does not authorize construction to begin. It strictly authorizes the Town to begin the process by borrowing up to $15 million.
Serious design work cannot begin without this authorization. Election Day is just the beginning of a process that will involve a great deal of public input as we design a facility that suits our community’s long-term needs.
We have identified several potential sites.
The two Town-owned sites are the existing Community Center’s field and a wooded area at Gary Park.
Two privately owned sites are being considered because they would be anchors of large private developments whose tax revenue would offset the project’s cost. These locations cannot be revealed publicly until discussions with the owners are further along and the impact to taxes depends on the ultimate location.
We are exploring public-private partnerships to minimize the impact of the project on the taxpayers. Currently, Town officials favor one of the private sites due to its location and minimal tax impact — the worst-case scenario includes a one time .5‑mill increase to fund the project.
I wanted to provide some basic information about our rationale and vision.
For those who are undecided or have questions, I will be participating in a Facebook Live event with the Valley Indy on October 8th at 8 p.m.
More information will be forthcoming.
The writer is the First Selectman of Seymour.
