Committee Brainstorms Ideas For Seymour Community Center, Including Location

SEYMOUR — The committee exploring the possibility of building a new community center to replace the century-old building ​“bursting at the seams” is looking at two sites.

The Seymour Community Center Building Committee met earlier this month, and will begin focusing its efforts on the Haynes property behind Stop & Shop on Franklin Street, as well as the existing Community Center site on Pine Street, as possible front-runners.

Former First Selectman Kurt Miller is serving as committee chairman.

“If the existing community center (property) works, we would propose taking down the existing building, making that the parking lot and building a brand new community center on the field next door,” Miller said.

The Haynes parcel, Miller said, could be a good fit if Seymour were to regionalize with neighboring Beacon Falls.

The committee’s first goal is to figure out what size building they’d need to accommodate both existing and future programming.

The current center, while 45,000-square feet, is not 100 percent in use. The main floor is occupied by the recreation department and senior center, and has a basketball court/gym. The bottom floor was previously occupied by the Boys and Girls Club, as a satellite space, and also has some meeting space and houses a local food bank. The building’s third floor is not useable as is.

Committee member Tim Connors (the town’s facilities director) said the current space and property isn’t large enough to build an adequate new facility, which members hope could potentially house an indoor swimming pool and soccer court, among other amenities.

Current programming, according to committee member Zack Philippas (the Community Center’s manager of recreational programming) has to be staggered to make room for everyone.

“We want to be able to run multiple activities throughout the day, and right now we can’t do that,” he said. ​“A larger facility would be a homerun for us.”

Philippas and several town officials toured Newtown’s new, state-of-the-art community center in 2019 and devised a ballpark proposal off of that. A question was posed to residents on the Nov. 2019 ballot, asking if they’d be willing to borrow upwards of $15 million. The vote was shot down by 389 votes, likely attributed to not having a specific proposal in place, officials said. That’s why the new committee was formed to devise a solid proposal.

Based on some of the Newtown facility’s amenities, committee member Mike Marcinek, who runs his own architect/engineering firm in Ansonia, drew a block diagram which he shared during the committee’s Jan. 14 meeting. It featured a three-floor building, about 40,000-square feet, with a swimming pool, basketball court, fitness center, public meeting rooms and more, at an estimated cost between $13-$14 million.

Connors suggested the town look into a public/private partnership to make the project a reality at less cost to the town. Committee member Bill Sawicki, the town’s Board of Finance chairman, said the committee should start seeking out federal, state and local grant money.

The committee will devise a ​“wish list” of what they’d like to see in a new center, and will then create a survey to engage residents’ input about their programming wants and needs.

Philippas would love to see a gym with dividers to run multiple basketball leagues and exercise classes, a pool, locker rooms, banquet hall for Bingo and other events and plenty of community meeting space, and a daycare with an outdoor playscape.

Committee members are hoping to keep the price tag to around $10 million.

“If we design this around $10 million, we can fit it into our debt service and not impact the mill rate,” Miller said.

Committee member Fred Stanek likes focusing on using the current community center property.

“We can keep other options in mind, but we own the land and it’s close to downtown,” Stanek said.

Marcinek will create a new block diagram showing potential program areas for the committee’s next meeting Feb. 4. From there a community survey will be put together. Miller 
hopes once survey results come back sometime in March, the committee will have a better idea of a new building’s potential size and program needs.

A new center is a must, committee members said, especially because the 100-year old building needs so much work, including a new roof and elevator, Connors had said.
Miller had said the Community Services Department has exploded with recreational offerings for residents in recent years. The current building as is, he had said, is holding the town back in providing more programming opportunities because it’s at full capacity.

While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused the center to temporarily close, and revert to virtual programming for now, town officials know life eventually will return to normal, and having adequate facilities and programs for families, seniors and others is essential.