Sunday, October 18, 2026

Westport/Weston YMCA Explains Planned Move

Dick Foot, executive director/CEO of the Westport/Weston YMCA, today discussed details of the Y’s planned move from its downtown headquarters to its Camp Mahackeno property. He told a forum for Y members that the organization’s plans for safe and uncongested access to the site include smart signalization to enhance traffic flow, two widened stacking lane connectors from Wilton Road, and a widened Sunny Lane. He said there will be no access to the site via neighboring streets, Rice’s Lane and River Lane, and that all access will be through Sunny Lane. (CLICK TO ENLARGE ) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

7 thoughts on “Westport/Weston YMCA Explains Planned Move”

Why Y says:
Thursday, April 14, 2005 at 11:42 am
Smart SIGNALIZATION???? STACKING Lane Connectors???
This is URBANIZATION AND SPRAWL at its Finest!
Fabulous! Just what a Rural comunity needs …
An Elevated Cloverleaf intersection, and More Traffic Lights … Stop The Madness!!!!!!
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Luisa says:
Thursday, April 14, 2005 at 12:57 pm
Westport a “rural” community? I don’t think so.
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Why Y says:
Thursday, April 14, 2005 at 4:20 am
I guess you’ve never ventured to the NorthWest Part of town then. And by the Way Luisa, it is so designated by the Town Plan and the State Plan for Conservation and Development …
I guess you’d preffer Westport be more like Yonkers or Bridgeport … Residential AAA zoning RURAL
Sorry, but you are wrong …
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Brian Carey says:
Thursday, April 14, 2005 at 8:14 am
Westport is nothing like Yonkers or Bridgeport. The fact that the YMCA would like to build at Mahackano is not likely to really effect traffic flow all that much. Usage of the YMCA doesn’t follow the traffic patterns of rush hour which is when this area because problematic—I would know, I have lived in this area for over 12 years.
The YMCA’s proposal is smart, decent to the community and well though through.
I wonder where everyone’s objections to development in this area where when Wilton decided to expand the offices nearby on Westport Avenue—that actually affected traffic flow in the area in a major way. These effort aganist the Y should have been used at that time instead.
Let me reiterate: The YMCA’s proposal will likely have little effect on traffic in this area of town and will do nothing to alter the nature of Westport as a town besides being a great place for our community to engage in numerous activities at a beautiful new facility that we all can be proud of.
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No Sprawl says:
Friday, April 15, 2005 at 12:51 pm
The Y’s plan is anything but smart and cares little for the community it is invading and the Downtown it is abandoning.
2500+ car trips a day congesting a new area. And lost of foot traffic for our local businesses.
People being pulled from the other side of Westport and back again, affecting all roads in town. Instead it should be centrally located.
Rush hour all day long, not just in the morning and night – compounding those times.
It is called sprawl, it is called urbanization, it is a poor plan that needs to be rethought and not blindly supported.
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Brian Carey says:
Friday, April 15, 2005 at 2:03 am
No Sprawl—I am curious as to where did you get the figure of 2500+ per day?
I hardly think that it will be “rush hour all day.”
The Y’s decision certainly is well-intended. They are pursuing what is best for the organization and the community as a whole with the options they have. It would have been great if the town allowed the YMCA to purchase a parcel of Baron’s South but that option was turned down a few years ago.
I live in this area of town and do not see it as a problem—why do people who live outside of this area seem to think that it would be so catastrophic? Because they would have to drive a little more?
I hardly view building an environmentally friendly building an a large piece of land constitutes urban sprawl. We are not talking about a large commericial development encompassing the entire Mahackeno area.
I once again urge Westporters to look at hard facts and then make conclusions, rather than simply stating that it is wrong for the Y to move.
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No Sprawl says:
Saturday, April 16, 2005 at 12:15 pm
Brian:
The car trips are pretty easy to come up with. 1000 members coming and going, drops offs, plus staff and deliveries coming and going. You get 2500 in a blink. This extra traffic will clog all the feeder roads which were never meant to support such traffic. Old Hill Road, as an example, will become a throughway.
Why is it sprawl? Providing new infrastructure and pulling people away from the center of town constitutes sprawl. The widening of Sunny Lane to 4 lanes as proposed, increasing the lanes for exiting the Merritt, adding traffic lights where they are not needed now, the need for greater fire and police presence far away from the center of town are urbanization and sprawl.
At least the worst piece of instrstucture should not be part of this, that being sewer. Mahackeno is in a sewer avoidance area and the Y is not entitiled to a sewer. They will have to deal with wasterwater via septic which they have the space for.
The building of a green building, which is nice, does not negate the fact that this will be a 100,000 sq foot commericial building in a designated rural section of town. And what’s worse is the systematic buying up of residential properties on Sunny Lane to allow for this corporate expansion. A home today, a parking lot tomorrow. That is a travesty.
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