• The YMCA is planning to abandon its historic downtown facility and move to a Wal-Mart sized building at Camp Mahackeno, located in a AAA-zoned residential neighborhood.
• This will cause a number of problems that will negatively impact Westport and beyond, including:
  • Bringing massive traffic congestion
  • Making roads unsafe
  • Polluting the local environment
  • Destroying open space
  • Increasing noise
  • Changing the character of the community
  • Hurting downtown merchants
  • Making the Y less accessible to youths and seniors
• Our not-for-profit organization has been created with the goal of keeping the Y Downtown

Relocating the YMCA from its historic downtown building hurts Westport in many ways:

• Traffic
  • It creates sprawl, bringing traffic into areas and roads not designed to handle it. (AAA-zoned residential area)
  • Camp Mahackeno's location near the Merritt's exit 41 raises the specter of massive traffic backups on already congested Route 33 and the Merritt itself.
  • Common routes such as Old Hill Road, Kings Highway, Partrick Road, Red Coat Road and Newtown Turnpike, to name a few, would be burdened with the many cars making trips to and from the YMCA.
  • Mahackeno does not front any arterial roads or major thoroughfares which would force all access and traffic onto small country lanes.
  • Total car volume at the isolated Mahackeno location could be double what is seen downtown - parents would drop off their children, drive to another destination (Stew Leonard's comes to mind), drive back on the same route to pick up their child, and then drive home again. With the Y downtown, parents can park and run errands on foot.
• Accessibility
  • For youths, senior citizens, or lower-income residents, the YMCA's downtown location is highly accessible via public transportation lines. These individuals may effectively be shut out of the Y's programming if the facility is moved away from the town center.
  • For members coming from the Fairfield side of town and beyond, the Camp Mahackeno location is inconvenient and far away.
• Community Vitality
  • The Y's current location provides great vitality to Westport's downtown, acting as a magnet to draw families, seniors and teens to the immediate area.
  • Moving the YMCA will hurt local downtown merchants' businesses.
  • The Y is planning to sell its historic building to a developer. It is not known what will be put in its place -- perhaps another national chain store, contributing to the "malling" and a greater loss of character for Westport?
  • Camp Mahackeno's serene, park-like setting on the Saugatuck River has been the site of summer camp for generations of Westport children. The Y's plans will pave and build over much of that Town Plan desiganated open space, destroying an irreplaceable town resource.
• Town and State Planning
  • The Y's relocation directly opposes Westport's downtown plan, which identified the YMCA as a core resource that should remain downtown.
  • It also goes against the state's recommendations against sprawl in the State Plan of Conservation and Development and the State' Blue Ribbon Commission Report on Sprawl, which maintain that central facilities should remain centrally located and not move outside the town core.

• The YMCA says it has evaluated 37 sites over the past decade, and has turned them all down. Now the Y says its 38th choice - its last choice - is its only choice. This is not the best choice for Westport.
• The YMCA's current facility is 78,000 square feet, and its plans call for a new 90,000+ square foot facility (in multiple buildings). The Y claims much of the space in its current building goes unused because of poor design. Can't the Y work with a good architect to maximize the space it has? How many more elliptical trainers does the Y need?
• The Greenwich Family YMCA is in a very similar situation, and it decided to renovate its historic building and remain in downtown Greenwich. It is accommodating a 50-meter pool, which the Y says is one of the driving factors behind its need to expand, and also is adding underground parking. Perhaps our Y could take a closer look at Greenwich's approach and reconsider its decision to leave downtown Westport.