Town officials and employees gathered at Comstock Community Center on Wednesday, May 18 for a ribbon cutting ceremony that officially rededicated the building following a two-year renovation and a year before that for committee work and planning.
Judy Zucker, chair of the Comstock renovation building committee, opened up the ceremony at a podium in front of first selectman Lynne Vanderslice; Wilton’s state representative Gail Lavielle and state senator Toni Boucher; members of the Boards of Selectmen and Finance; and municipal department heads and staffers. She welcomed them to a celebration she said was more of a rejuvenation than simply a renovation.
“This building is ready to serve a new generation, the next generation of Wilton residents of all ages.”
The building was originally opened in Sept. 1956 as the Strong Comstock School, which housed 296 students in 4-6th grade. The town added a new wing onto the building in 1997—which is now home to the Senior Center and Wilton Social Services. The current improvements and renovations include upgraded office facilities, improved Senior Center amenities, better-designed recreation and meeting room areas and substantial esthetic design improvement and environmental renovations, which Zucker said propels the entire building into the future to benefit the whole community.
“Today we have a beautiful and welcoming community center, unified in many aspects, unified by a building automation system thanks to our engineers that controls the various heating and lighting and external lighting; we now have a sprinkler system throughout the building; we have increased handicapped accessibility; we have safety measures; all this has been incorporated.”
See our photos and exclusive drone footage, below!
Zucker predicted that the improvements that were made will have a major impact on the community.
“As the building is used, and utilized better, and more citizens are proud and pleased to come, you will appreciate all the work that’s gone into it,” Zucker told the crowd of about 45 people.
She was quick to credit numerous people involved in the project—”Building committee, design team and construction managers, par excellence, the town has been very fortunate.” She specifically named members of the volunteer building committee (Bill Brautigam, Richard Creeth, Bruce Hampson, Dave Hapke, Mark Ketley, Steve Pierce, John Savarese and Jim Saxe); and the many people working with the project’s architecture firm, Quisenberry Arcari Architects, and construction manager, Turner Construction Company.
Zucker made special mention of the employees of the town departments that occupy Comstock. “The staff of the Wilton Parks and Recreation Commission, of the Department of Social Services, because they put up with a lot of discombobulation and inconvenience, and they were wonderful partners throughout the whole project. They were cooperative and flexible, and believe me, we needed that flexibility when we move people around.”
From the start the project had been fast-tracked by former first selectman Bill Brennan as a “personal objective” of his, but he was unable to join the celebration due to a previously scheduled out-of-town commitment. His prepared remarks were read by selectman Dick Dubow. “This was a very special project for him, and he took great pride as it proceeded. It would have been a very special day for him,” Dubow said.
Vanderslice, Brennan’s successor, joked that she was “like the pitcher they bring out in the 9th inning when you’re ahead by 10 runs and you don’t really do anything, but you get some of the glory.” She pointed out that, “all of us are very much going to enjoy this building, and all the hard work.”
Vanderslice brought the spotlight back to Zucker, as the indefatigable powerhouse who she thanked for all that had been done on the project.
“When you first think about becoming involved in town, there are people you’ve watched who you learn from and who become a role model. There are very few people who have given as much to this community as Judy has through the years. She has served as a role model for all of us. I hope we all can be half as energetic as she is,” said Vanderslice, as she called for a bouquet of flowers to be presented to Zucker.
Take a look at GOOD Morning Wilton‘s exclusive overhead video of the renovated building and check out the pictures we took at the event, below. *BONUS! Find out about the little-known free feature that’s available for ANY Wilton resident to use.
