NEWS

Mahackeno opponents make their case at Conservation hearing

By Meg Learson Grosso
Staff Writer
Printed in the The Minuteman

Ancel said she had researched YMCA facilities across the country and found that San Francisco and Detroit each have brand new 100,000-square-foot state-of-the-art YMCAs.

However, she thought that 100,000 square feet was large for a small town like Westport. Her chief concern was that the Y had greatly underestimated its stated future membership and therefore, had undersized its septic system. She based her estimate for membership on expansions of other YMCAs in Fairfield County.

Ancel quoted one of the Conservation Commissioners, Gerald Kagan, who had previously asked, "Why would anyone design a septic system they know will probably fail, and bring it to this commission for approval?"

Ancel answered the rhetorical question by saying: "So they can get on the public sewer system."

She pointed out that there is a town policy that precludes properties in the northern part of the town from connecting to the public sewer system. She ventured that if the septic system fails, however, the town isn't likely to say, "Gee, that's too bad. Looks like you're out of business now," but would be forced into giving the Y their sewer lines - "and the Y knows it."

She said that the Y is saying that it anticipates a 15 percent increase in member usage to 1,015 persons per day, along with a 43 percent increase in Camp Mahackeno's usage to 600 persons a day.

However, the Y will be expanding its usable space from the 65,000 square feet in its present downtown facility to 102,000 square feet at Camp Mahackeno, so Ancel thinks that's "a lot of very expensive, state-of-the-art square footage to be used by only 1,104 people per day."

Ancel said the New Canaan Y had increased its membership by 40 percent from 7,000 to 10,000, after it expanded to 68,000 square feet of usable space, including a 25-meter pool, a 40-meter pool and a gym. She said that New Canaan residents complained that it had become a regional YMCA, and Ancel noted that the facility was 1/2 mile north of the Merritt Parkway, whereas the Westport Y would be right at the exit, just slightly more convenient for commuters.

Ancel said that Wilton's YMCA, with less than 41,000 square feet of usable space in its building, including a 25 meter pool - it also has a 50 meter pool outdoors - has a membership of 9,500 drawn from Wilton and 15 surrounding communitites.

While Wilton's population is about 17,600, Greenwich has a population of 62,000 and is expanding its downtown YMCA to about 90,000 square feet, according to Ancel, who said that group expects its membership to grow from around 5,500 to 10,000, once their new facility is finished.

Ancel said that the Westport/Weston Family Y had plans to hold, not only regional swim meets, but also basketball tournaments and gymnastic meets in its new facility. She is wary that these meets would draw many more people than the septic system is built to handle.

Ancel further told the commissioners that the Y had refused to put a cap on membership and had refused her personal request to consider a conservation easement on the rest of their Mahackeno property "to limit their growth in a residential zone and to save the land they profess to protect as 'good stewards of the environment.'"

Commission chairman Lee Starr then asked Ancel if she would favor a facility at Mahackeno if it could be on sewer and if the Y would give a conservation easement.

Ancel said, "No," because she favored smart growth over sprawl and did not favor a commercial enterprise in a Triple A residential zone.

Westporter Joe Jackson expressed much the same thought earlier in the evening, when he said, "The scale does not belong in a residential neighborhood. It's not a NIMBY issue, it's a NAMBY issue - not in anyone's neighborhood."

Not everyone agreed.

Ronald Winer, who graduated from Staples High School in 1977, wore his yellow Family Y T-shirt and said, "Why not enlarge our sewer system? You can only manage development. You can't stop change."

His middle school-aged daughter, Gabrielle, a member of the Water Rats swim team, agreed that the Y should build at Mahackeno and provided a bit of comic relief when she said, "We'll keep coming to these meetings, no matter how bored we get."

However, Iain Bruce, a 17-year resident of Westport and a member of the Y's Board of Directors, said he thought the Y had been a good steward of Camp Mahackeno and Lee's Pond since acquiring them 60 and 30 years ago respectively. He said the Y had restored and renovated the Lee's Pond dam at a cost of nearly $250,000. He added that the Y had located the proposed building on a corner of the property that increased their construction cost, but would be as far away from most of the neighbors as possible.

Bruce said the Y had spent millions of dollars on the project to date.

Bruce also said that the town would vastly prefer to connect to the town's sewer system than to build its own septic system, but pointed out that that avenue was not open to them.

The board member added that he was impressed with the previous testimony of "the opponents'" consultant, engineer Pio Lombardo, and "even though he earns his living consulting and installing a waste water treatment system that competes with the design we have chosen, I did not hear him say that our system would not work."

"I did hear Mr. Lombardo say it is important that we have performance standards and accountability ... and we are more than ready to work with this Commission and the Town to agree upon standards of operation," Bruce said.

"I did hear Mr. Lombardo say that our system will need close monitoring, and, of course, we plan to do this," he said, adding, again, that the Y would work with the town.

"I did hear Mr. Lombardo say that we may have to dig test wells or otherwise plan for proper monitoring and of course, we have no objection to this," said Bruce, again adding that the Y was willing to work with the town on "a reasonable and mutually agreeable plan for monitoring."

However, the board member balked at setting the nitrogen emissions at a standard lower than 10mcg/liter, something suggested at previous meetings by a number of speakers, including Lombardo. He said that that the town's sewage treatment plant currently emitted that much and more, but admitted that when the plant's upgrade is finished next year, it will be only 3 to 5 mcg/l. He said that the 34,000 gallons per day emitted by the Y would be only one percent of the amount the town discharges and said that it would discharge into the ground instead of directly into the river.

Another speaker, Phyllis Condub, wore her yellow Y T-shirt and said she had been supervising programs at the YMCA for 18 years. She pointed out that a new YMCA facility would be more wheelchair accessible. She agreed that maintainence would be important, and said she thought that the Y would be reliable.

However, Candace Savin of Twin Falls Lane, did not agree that the Y would be reliable.

Savin said the Y had few or no plans for how to maintain the system and added, "not only are the plans inadequate, but we should be skeptical about their continuing to (maintain the system). There are extensive costs. Their membership projections are just that ... They have claimed poverty. They claim that directional drilling (under Poplar Plains Brook) is too expensive. The Y has not been an exemplary steward of the facility it already has. The dumpsters are full and (likely to) attract vermin," she claimed.

Savin said the report from Stearns & Wheler, an engineering firm hired by the town, recommended "extraordinarily frequent sampling." She said frequent cleaning and a back-up generator were vital. She pointed out that there are a wide variety of substances that can go into the system and cause failure. She said that the Y can control what their cleaning people put into the system, but that they could not control what was put in by "the random actor."

Debbie McGinley of Rice's Lane mentioned at least three main concerns with the planned facility. One was why the Y had built a corner of it in a 100-year flood plain when there was 34 acres on which to build. The second was why the Y did not answer that exact question from the Stearns & Wheler report, but instead "responded" by saying that the encroachment was "insignificant." She said, "We've heard promises, guesses, best estimates, one-word dismissals and even non-answers from the applicant, but none of these are answers and must not be construed as having satisfied the questions."

McGinley also expressed concerns about increased rainfall due to climate change. She said that she had previously spoken with Dick Harris of Earthplace, who monitors rainfall, and that he had said that "typical rainfall volume was about 4 inches per month, but that weather patterns have changed dramatically."

In light of the Y's sediment and erosion control and stormwater runoff plans, the increase in rainfall was worth consideration, McGinley said.

She cited a 2004 report from scientists at the University of Connecticut which said that the state is getting more rain, about 12 percent higher than 100 years ago. The state uses this information in the design of storm drains, culverts, roads and bridges, according to one of writers of the report, David Miler. She said that Miller noted that a 100-year storm would yield at least 9.2 inches of rainfall. She mentioned the Dec. 11, 1993 storm that had immersed cars parked at the train station in water.

McGinley asked that the Conservation Commission take these climate changes into consideration when considering allowing a large septic system so close to Poplar Plains Brook and the Saugatuck River. "Given the rainfall and flooding that we have seen, how would that affect the leaching fields and operation of the proposed septic system? The risk to the water quality of the river and Long Island Sound is too great to bear," she said.

Given ice storms such as that in 1973, with 278,742 power outages, in which it took seven days to restore power, and Hurricane Gloria in 2003, in which it took two full days to restore power, McGinley said that "the Y's plan to operate its septic system for a day or two with an emergency generator, fueled by an undetermined power supply, simply is not good enough."