“We’re very excited. Everyone is anxiously awaiting the completion of this project. It’s been a long time coming,” said senior aquatics director Jason Paige, coach of the Regional YMCA Mako Swim Club.
“The site work is all on schedule,” Paige said. “We have had a pretty mild winter so far.”
When construction is complete, the current locker room building will be taken down, there will be a seasonally enclosed outdoor Olympic-size pool in a bubble, and there'll be a building large enough to house new showers and locker rooms, additional fitness facilities, and larger program space.
The centerpiece of the $2.6 million project is the removable bubble, which will enable the YMCA to use its outdoor pool year-round.
Related story: Brookfield Y's Outdoor Pool Getting $2.6M Bubble To Allow Year-Round Use
The outdoor pool will be available for use in the summer, and the new building will be open by August, according to Paige. The YMCA will set up temporary locker rooms for the summer.
With the addition of the new pool, “the new programs we’ll be able to launch will allow us to cater to the needs of the community in a better way,” he said.
Once the pool is open, lap swim will be available any time that the YMCA is open, with the new and existing pools.
Also, the YMCA will be able to increase the number of swim lessons. “Beginning in September, we will be able to offer at least three times as many classes as we have now," he said.
“Being a lakefront community, our goal is to be able to offer swim lessons to everybody. We want to make sure everybody knows how to swim.”
The Regional Y serves Danbury, Bethel, Brookfield, New Fairfield, Newtown and Sherman. It has about 9,000 members.
To make a tax-deductible contribution to the fundraising campaign for the YMCA's new Youth Development and Aquatic Center, contact the Brookfield YMCA at 203-775-4444 or click here.
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