NEWS

Opponents cite negatives of YMCA Mahackeno proposal

By Meg Learson Grosso
Staff Writer
Printed in the The Minuteman

"What is driving the Y's need is their desire to have a 50-meter pool. Is it worth it to never get down Route 33 again? Only a handful of people are elite enough swimmers to need that," said McGinley, who once swam competitively herself.

YMCA officials announced last week that they have hired an architect to design a new Y facility at the northeast section of the Mahackeno site.

McGinley said placing the Y at Mahackeno goes against four major planning documents, all of which say that a town's core facilities, such as a Y, should be centrally located, because otherwise traffic is drawn to where it doesn't belong. Her group, Y Downtown, has summarized the documents and given links to them on their Web site (www.Ydowntown.com).

The four documents are the Westport Downtown Plan, the 2004 State Plan of Conservation and Development, the State Blue Ribbon Panel on Smart Growth and Sprawl, and the 1997 Westport Town Plan of Conservation and Development. All of these plans urge that community facilities be located within current town centers or close to them.

The just-released State Plan urges towns to "redevelop and revitalize regional centers and areas with existing or currently planned infrastructure." It also urges towns to "conserve and restore the natural environment ... and traditional rural lands."

Likewise, the State Blue Ribbon Panel "encourages development where infrastructure already exists and conversely away from where it doesn't and where development would harm environmentally sensitive and precious land."

Others in opposition to the Y's plans include the former deputy moderator of the RTM, Roy Dickinson; and Sidney Kramer, founder of Save Westport Now, both of whom have written letters to the Minuteman.

Dickinson's letter last week advocated putting the Y on Baron's South, and Kramer's letter in this week's Minuteman says the Y is abandoning its good will with this move.

Selectman John Izzo said, "With all due respect to the YMCA and its board of directors, if I am Westport's next first selectman, I will do everything in my power to see that the YMCA is located on Baron's South and is located downtown. I do not feel that Camp Mahackeno should be disturbed." Izzo maintains that despite what Y officials say, it is certainly physically possible to put the YMCA on Baron's South.

Ted Diamond was second selectman for the eight years when Jackie Heneage was first selectwoman, from 1973 to 1981. Before that, he and Heneage were prominent on a committee that, as he said, "kept present-day Winslow Park from becoming a shopping mall." Indeed, a large department store, B. Altman & Co. tried to locate there and eventually, the "Baron" bought the property, saving the town from a potential traffic nightmare.Diamond thinks that the YMCA is trying to push the issue through "as though it is a closed matter and it is not." He strongly believes that "we should find out ... whether the community wants it where it is now, or on Baron's South, or at Mahackeno ... I believe it ought to be on Baron's South, but I strongly believe that we ought to find out what the community's attitude is."

Lee Papageorge, proprietor of Oscar's Deli on Main Street, would also like to see the YMCA downtown on Baron's South. He doesn't think it belongs in a residential neighborhood, but at a place where people can also go to the library or go shopping. "It's good to have people on Main Street," he added.

Chet Harlow lives on the Wilton Road and thinks that the biggest problem with putting the YMCA at Camp Mahackeno is that the only access to it is Sunny Lane, "which is a bear at certain times of day." Besides thinking that the traffic would be horrendous, he does not like the idea of siting the facility in a Triple A residential zone "where it will contribute to urban sprawl," nor does he like "the loss of business for downtown merchants, the loss of convenience for parents dropping off their children and a loss of convenience for members themselves." He is a YMCA member, and said he has heard a lot of comments from other members - many of them negative.

The 38-year resident said that the Y "will face vigorous opposition on the part of neighbors and the rest of Westport."

As for that loss of convenience, McGinley notes, "It will be bad for people in the northwest area of Westport, where Mahackeno is, because it will clog their roads; it will be bad for people in Greens Farms, because it will take much longer for them to get to the Y, and it will be bad for people at the beach for the same reason."

Matthew Mandell is the director of the Partrick Wetlands Preservation Fund, a group that was instrumental in fighting the Partrick development proposed by ARS partners. Mandell is worried that the YMCA may try to put in sewers. He notes that the northwest area of Westport has been designated a sewer-avoidance area and thinks that sewers would allow larger houses on smaller pieces of property, destroying the ruralness of the neighborhood.

Currently there are no sewers in that area and YMCA spokespeople have said that a septic system can be used for the 90,000 square foot facility, to be located next to the Saugatuck River.

One other issue which McGinley raises is the $17 million that the YMCA will have to raise to pay for its $35 million building after it has sold its present building. She thinks that it will not be fair to ask the same people who would give to local charities "when people in Bridgeport don't have coats."