It has been a while since we have provided an update on the progress toward a YMCA/Recreation Center in Ridgefield and our community has been incredibly patient. Efforts have continued behind the scenes to pursue a private/public partnership to build a facility that will meet our community’s needs, wants and desires amid significant cost increases. We are excited to announce an updated plan to continue to partner with the YMCA and a private developer to build a Recreation and Community Center in Ridgefield, with a projected opening in Summer 2026.
Since our last update, the project team has been working behind the scenes to address several challenges, the most significant of which being construction cost increases and market changes over the past four years that delayed the ability to start building. Initially, the team tried to bring the project cost down through changes to the building design. Unfortunately, reducing the overall cost required removing features such as the open gym, leisure pool, and programming space. Based on the 2016 feasibility study and successive community conversations, these features were critical to the success of a recreation center in Ridgefield. The City then began to work with the team to explore the possibility of creating a Community Center, to replace the one lost with the library expansion, alongside the Recreation Center to tie together both of these vital community assets and create a feasible funding structure for the project.
The project team has presented a plan to build two separate centers, a recreation center and a community center, operating as one. The Ridgefield Recreation and Community Center would still be constructed by the developer, the Recreation center asset would be purchased by the YMCA and the Community center asset would be purchased by the City. The entire facility would be managed by the YMCA.
The early design for the Ridgefield Recreation and Community Center features a LEED certified, two-story 43,000 square foot building with large, south facing windows, two pools, an indoor gym with elevated track, fitness center, locker rooms, programming space and a Community Center with features still to be determined. The site is designed to maintain a natural park like setting complimented by a beautiful facility featuring exposed wood, solar panels, a trail and outdoor areas open for programming.
This project is still early, and there will be several steps along the way. We will keep the community up to date, using the Ridgefield Recreation and Community Center project page, as we work through these steps. At this time, our rough timeline includes breaking ground for a 16-month build in the Spring of 2025, with the Ridgefield Recreation and Community Center opening doors in the Summer of 2026.
For more information about the project proposal, project history and the work that has been done over the past 8 years, you may watch the presentation from the March 28 City Council Study Session.
Additional images available on the project page.