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Three Locations Under Consideration for Rec Center

At a Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting on Jan. 30, the ad hoc community center committee provided the board with an update on potential sites for a community center as well as the next steps in the process.

In December 2022, the BOS appointed a new ad hoc committee tasked with considering possible locations around town for a community center as well as potential costs to build and operate the center.

At a BOS meeting on Jan. 30, committee member Greg Carlo gave the BOS an update on where the committee stands now.

Carlo said that the committee is looking at three potential sites for the rec center. One site is Wren Park, near Daisy Elementary School and the library. The second site is on undeveloped land behind the Middle School and High School. The third potential site is the National Guard Armory on Brookside Avenue.

Carlo stressed that no final decisions had been made and that there is still testing that needs to be done to see if building on those sites is even possible. Additionally, the first two sites are town-owned land, while the armory is not. First Selectman John Hall said there have been informal discussions about the armory potentially being made available to the town.

During his presentation to the board, Carlo said that the committee is developing a Request For Proposal (RFP) so that an architecture firm can conduct feasibility studies on the potential sites.

The committee also needs to discuss the amenities of the potential center further so that it can get accurate cost estimates.

Carlo said the goal is for the committee to make a presentation to the public in the summer of 2024 and then follow up with another presentation in early 2025.

Interest in starting a community center in Westbrook has been a long time coming. In 2011, the consulting engineering firm Woodard & Curran recommended using basement space in the Westbrook Public Library as an interim center, but that never happened. Interest was reinvigorated a couple of years ago when some residents again began to clamor for more space for recreational activities like pickleball.

In 2021, an online survey for Westbrook residents designed to gauge interest in a town community center received more than 280 responses within 24 hours of being live. In total, 714 people filled out the survey, with a majority of people in favor of the town building one.

Efforts to continue the project continued in 2022 with the founding of the committee.