During the many long months years decades it took for the Y to move from downtown, I thought the result would be a traffic disaster.
I envisioned lines of cars backed up and down Wilton Road, all the way to the Post Road. I’ve seen bad traffic there; I could not imagine it wouldn’t get worse.
Well, the Y has been out there next to Exit 41 for more than 2 years. And — you could blow me over with a feather — the traffic is not only not worse. It may even be better.
Maybe the lights have been rejiggered. Maybe everyone hops onto the Merritt and gets off at Exit 42. Maybe everyone jogs there.
Whatever the case, the traffic apocalypse never happened.
And next Thursday (March 2, 7 p.m., Town Hall), the Planning & Zoning Commission may discuss a membership cap for the Y.
The (relatively) new Westport Weston Family YMCA.
According to an email sent to members, in 2008 — when the Y sought approval to build — the P&Z established certain conditions. One was a “membership cap” of 8,000.
The Y says they’ll ask the P&Z to clarify that the 8,000 “pertains to individuals that are of driving age.”
That makes sense. The fire marshal should care how many people are in the building. The P&Z should concern itself with the number of cars.
The Y did not ask me to write this. They don’t know I’m doing it.
But as someone who spent years imagining gridlock — and hailed the cap when it was first announced — I might as well admit how wrong I was.