The Westport Weston Family Y announced late today that it has received a temporary Certificate of Occupancy from town officials. The Y resumes operations — on a limited basis — tomorrow (Friday, November 30), at noon.
Family Y CEO Rob Reeves said:
“I am very proud of the work our staff and contracting partners have done to get us to this point. It’s been 4 weeks of cleaning up, drying out and undertaking the many complex tasks involved with getting our facility back in working order.”
The Y will resume operations using 2 external generators. These rooms and services will be open:
- · All locker rooms
- · Stauffer Pool
- · Fitness center upper level
- · Upper gym
- · Racquet courts
- · Gymnastics center
- · Dance center studio
- · Spinning room
- · Bedford Room
The lower level of the Fitness Center remains shut until early next week.
YMCA aquatic director Nicole Turechek checks the temperature of the Stauffer Pool, prior to reopening.
The shallow, warm-water Brophy Pool was refilled on Tuesday, and a new heater connection is being established. It’s expected to re-open later next week.
The Family Child Care Center, in the lower level of the original Bedford building, suffered extensive flood damage. It is in the process of being completely renovated.
The Y’s infant/toddler rooms (upstairs only) will be ready to open on Monday.
Plenty of work needed to be done on the Y’s flood-damaged Child Care Center.
Y officials thanked the many contractors who helped recover from Hurricane Sandy, as well as area facilities that welcomed Y members and hosted numerous classes and programs during the hiatus. Those facilities include the YMCAs of Norwalk, Wilton, New Canaan, Darien and Fairfield, as well as Wakeman Boys & Girls Club in Southport, Intensity in Norwalk, Fairfield Country Day School, Christ & Holy Trinity Church, Westport Center for Senior Activities and Staples High School.
Meanwhile, as one door — er, YMCA — opens, another closes. The Norwalk Y on West Avenue will cease operations on December 31. Officials cited declining membership and contributions, as well as the cost of maintaining the nearly 90-year-old building, as reasons for the move.
Click here to read more about the Norwalk Y closing, from the Hour.
Hey Dan,
This is great news for our wonderful town.
As always, thanks for the timely updates.
You’re the man! 🙂
So thrilled to be able to go back to the Westport Y ! They did a great job of communicating regularly to members and the town. No doubt they all worked extremely hard to make this happen. Thank you to the entire YMCA team for working diligently to open!!
Westporters…..are you SURE you want to move the “Y” all the way out to Camp Mahackeno? Makes no sense to me. That Stauffer pool sure looks like its got some life left in it.
I think it would be safe to say that MANY of us are NOT “sure” about the move. If you had any ounce of sense, you’d realize that it has been bitterly fought for years. I still feel it’s a huge mistake, but they will not realize the error until it’s too late.
Just like your parents.
You must be kidding. The Y was flooded and out of commission in its current location. Why would you want to risk having that happen again?
The building has been sold, the Y is moving, and that is a welcome event.
I go back in Westport to 1952 and for it to flood once every 60 years isn’t much of a risk in my humble opinion. If the building has been sold, then so be it, however they could still find a better spot than Camp Mahackeno.
The understatement of the year. Yeah, a much better spot. The current arrangement is a complete joke and I feel for the generous Westporters who have donated half of their wealth to make the move happen. Sad.
Name one “better” place that was available.
I simply disagree that taking the current downtown “Y”, shutting it down, selling it off to people who worship only the almighty buck and combining it with the current Camp Mahackeno turns two separate and distinctively different components of the “Y”‘s longstanding and well-serving value proposition into a more valuable single component is flawed thinking. I’ve not been a resident of Westport for 35 years but even as a snot nosed kid I knew that Mahackeno filled a purpose and the downtown “Y” filled a purpose and each had its own time and place. The only purpose that seems to exist for downtown Westport is to try to compete with Stamford Town Center.
The time and place have passed. And you have absolutely no idea what people worship, so your gratuitous display of hatred is very revealing of what values you hold.
Anonymous, I couldn’t agree with you more that the time and place has passed.
I think Sank is a complete moron and should go away, but I agree. This was all a mistake and poor planning. Nothing has “passed.” Just because the decision was approved doesn’t mean it is the right one.
Look at the Y’s Board of Directors, and their biggest donors. All longstanding members of the community who have deep pockets with major influence. Whether it’s paying a resident to MOVE from their childhood home, or “encouraging” the various reps for the town to approve their plans (with special interest contributions).
It’s just like the Federal Government. What a shock.
It is not like the federal Government. The Federal government would have forced to you pay for the new Y.
The Taxpayers are footing some of this bill. Don’t play dumb, please.
Really how?
The work of a moron is never complete. There is always so much left undone.
Are you speaking from first hand experience?
I hope so.
Sank T. Monious and WC,
Please call me to arrange a tour of our downtown Y. I’ll be happy to show you all the reasons why our facility is outmoded and inadequate to continue to help us meet the needs of our members and community. If you’re a senior with mobility issues or, say, a young mother with a stroller, we may have to make other arrangements, as our building is not very friendly to those two groups.
If you have time, we can also take a quick stroll so I can point out all the other downtown “institutions” that have long since decamped to more suitable locations — the old library, old town hall, old post office, old court building and old firehouse (now our fitness center, though its lower level remains closed due to flooding.)
Got more time? I’ll drive you to our Mahackeno campus: It’s 2 miles from Main St. and the Post Road, will take 5 minutes and, according to mapquest,, will require 0.11 gallons a gas.
Or you could join Y members and supporters at our “Welcome Back” celebration on Dec. 11 at the Branson Hall at C&HT Church. We’ll be screening a new short film that shows what the outside and inside of our new Y will look like. It’s pretty cool.
We’d hold this public gathering at our old Y, but really don’t have suitable space to host it. Among other things, our lower gym is still closed. We need to replace the parquet floor due to flooding — for the second time in two years. Besides, the Church’s new community space is very nice — it was designed with help from the same local architect who created the plans for our new Y at Mahackeno.
Thanks, and look forward to seeing you.
Scott Smith
Y Communications Director
203-226-8981
Your approach to win over souls through snarky comments on a blog is not working. Try something new.
I’m glad Scott is running the “Y”‘s communications and not their finances. Talk about an overreaction and wasted words!!!!
What words? “It’s pretty cool.”??? Yeah, that sounds promising.
I’m glad you paid off government officials, pushed out residents, and are preparing to hack away on Westport land so that we can have a “pretty cool” building. Just perfect.
Suggestion: try spinning a new message. I do not see this one being so successful. As a Communications Director, I’m sure you’ll see that.
THIS WAS MORE SO A RESPONSE TO MR. SCOTT SMITH, by the way.
Cool!!!! Now we’re talkin’ “Nouveau Westport” Cool? As in putting the town dump in the center of town on the river and then building the new library on top of it? “Cool”? As an office complex in the center of Gorham Island? Cool? As in defecating on the corner of Wright Street and the Post Rd. with a high rise? Westport has become as “Cool” as Chernobyl in December. Put a new “Y” at Mahackeno? “Y” not? How Cool!!!!
You don’t live in Westport “Cool”.
And you are definitely not cool. But it seems Scott’s door is always open for a cool tour and chat.
Right, whereever that imaginary door may be. If you don’t like the changes, leave.
You live in Westport. “Not Cool.”
It is hard to believe that people are whining still about the Y’s move. Give it a rest, the deal is done. If you want to whine about something how about whining about Gordon’s plans to give away Baron’s South. At least that that travesty has not yet happened.