‘If We Lose This Pool, We Will Never Get It Back’: Selectmen Weigh in on New Canaan Y’s Valles Pool

New Canaan’s top elected officials are weighing in on a widely discussed community issue involving a venerable local nonprofit organization.

The CEO of the New Canaan YMCA has said that the South Avenue facility’s 46-year-old Valles Pool must close by the end of this year due to required repairs. It faces one to two years of construction, she said, and the Y’s Board of Directors has established a committee to examine the problem and weigh the cost-benefit of restoring the pool versus reimagining the space to serve swimming as well as non-swimming needs.

On Tuesday, Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll called for New Canaanites to “pay attention” to a “potential major change in the Y.”

“Their board has been reviewing their facilities and what to do, and there has been some discussion about taking the main diving pool and swim pool, the Valles Pool, offline permanently, potentially with perhaps needs for more dry land,” Murphy Carroll said during the Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

She continued: “It’s all proposal stage. But I do think people should know that we never built a pool because we had a relationship with the Y. This is our swim team pool where you do the training. You need different training for swimmers, and we have quite a strong track record in swimming. And I’m not even talking about the Y’s program. They’ve done a lot, as well. And it’s the only diving well around, so if this diving well goes offline, there is no diving. It’s just there are no other places. So I was surprised, just working in the community—and I know some of the papers cover it—but it’s hard to get the real story. I just want people to know about this because it is a community Y, it is called the ‘New Canaan Community Y.’ It’s domiciled here. And to the extent they change their program offerings, it certainly affects how we work with them.”

She spoke during a section of the meeting dedicated to general matters before the town.

Since news of the impending closure and internal Y board discussion broke, many residents and members at the Y have spoken in favor of preserving the Valles Pool as-is, with competitive swimming and dive programs as well as recreational use. Advocates created a website dedicated to the cause and have planned a peaceful protest for Saturday.

Murphy Carroll said during the meeting that the town has had a “very good working relationship” with the Y.

“They use our courts for basketball, we’ve given them money for stuff,” she said, adding, “My personal opinion is if we lose this pool, we will never get it back.”

“I want people to know that this is going on, try to be educated about it,” she said. “The Y has some information up. They are a private entity, so unlike us, where everything we do in public, we have an agenda and all that stuff, we just do leases out of the public. They’re not required to do the deliberations in public, and I get it: You have to evaluate stuff. So we don’t really know all the thinking in place. People do know it’s an older building. The roof actually has to be done. But I think people should just pay attention to this. It would really affect our athletes and anybody who’s a diver would really affect them.”

Selectman Steve Karl called the Valles Pool “a very important asset for the community.”

“And I think the Y itself— we’ve all been on boards where you have the discussion in a committee setting, and then you try to make some decisions as you move forward, and then everybody second-guesses the decision,” he said. “We haven’t heard the reasoning, necessarily, behind the decision, but it’s going to be interesting based on the outpouring of support for this pool. It’s amazing to see how many people in town have come forward and said, ‘Hey, please pay attention to this because this is a big deal.’ Yeah. So I appreciate you bringing it up. Yeah. It’ll be a community conversation, at least for the next few months.”

Karl noted that the Y “operates on a special permit in a residential neighborhood, and it’s always been a great relationship and, hopefully we’ll continue that.”

“I think the board heard the public outcry loud and clear, I hope,” he said. “But we’ll keep an eye on it.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson said she has asked the chair of the Y’s Board of Directors to list board members on the organization’s website.

“I still don’t see it up, but maybe I’m not looking in the right place,” Carlson said. “We are unique in not having a Board of Directors on their website. Darien’s Y is on their website. It should be a public document with who the board of directors for the YMCA is.”