By John Schwing

WESTPORT — It was a slam dunk.

Greens Farms Academy’s application to build a new athletics/wellness center on its Beachside Avenue campus won unanimous approval Monday from the Planning and Zoning Commission.

The new building, encompassing roughly 29,200 square feet, will be integrated with the private school’s squash center, according to the special permit/site plan application.

The town’s Architectural Review Board had approved the design plans in April. And because of the septic system’s size and proximity to the state’s Southwest Shoreline Watershed, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection in August signed off on the plans.

The new structure will be built on the site of a maintenance building, which will be demolished, close to the Maple Lane side of the campus, behind what the applicant promised would be enhanced natural screening by trees and plantings.

Robert Whelan, the GFA head of school, told the P&Z meeting the new athletic facilities are needed because the existing Bedford gymnasium, built in 1964, is outdated and “under-performs” in terms of current-day student athletics. That building will be “re-imagined” at some point in the future as called for in the school’s master plan, he said.

The new multipurpose center is designed to “foster a sense of community and connection that we have found to be so vital,” Whelan said, and is conveniently located adjacent to the school’s playing fields.

With the new center, the academy will offer more opportunities for GFA students to participate in athletics programs, he added.

John Fallon, the attorney leading the academy’s presentation, later emphasized that while the center will accommodate more participants from the existing student body, the school is not seeking permission to lift the cap on its current enrollment of 715 students. School officials also said they do not envision expanding the academy’s interscholastic sports programs.

That means the project is not expected to generate any more traffic, even though the plan calls for adding nine parking spaces on campus, according to the application.

Fallon also said school officials had reached out to neighbors before moving forward with the project, and the application should not be a surprise to them.

He asserted the project, with a larger buffer of trees and other plantings, will be more visually appealing to neighboring properties.

No one from the public spoke against or in support of the application during the P&Z’s Zoom meeting.

P&Z member Neil Cohn, who said he liked the overall proposal, added he was disappointed there were no plans to incorporate sources of renewable energy in the project. One of the design engineers, however, responded that the building’s roof is being designed to a standard that would be able to support photovoltaic energy panels in the future.

Commission member Amy Wistreich, the parent of a child who graduated from the academy, said she was “delighted” the plan calls for the new center to be built in the “under-utilized” maintenance area, with the result it should have no impact on traffic flow.

And the Greens Farms administration also has a good record of maintaining all facilities on the campus, she added.

The commission vote was 6-0 in favor of the application.

John Schwing, interim editor of the Westport Journal, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.