Board OKs lease for boys, girls club
MILFORD — Plans for a $1 million addition to the West
Shore Recreation Center to make room for the Boys and
Girls Club of Lower Naugatuck Valley will go forward
after the Board of Aldermen this week approved a 25-year
lease agreement.
The 25-year lease, between the city and the Boys and
Girls Club, requires the club to pay $1 annually, and
the lease can be extended by another 25 years.
Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr. said having the Boys and
Girls Club fills the long-sought need for a youth and
teen center in the west side of the city.
“For a long time one of our goals in Milford was to have
a teen center or a youth center and throughout the years
of meetings it became apparent the cost and other
factors would not allow us to have a separate teen
center with a staff,” Richetelli said.
Having the Boys and Girls Club means the city will
have a place for youths to go at no cost to the
taxpayers, Richetelli said.
A satellite location of the Boys and Girls Club of Lower
Naugatuck Valley opened in the West Shore Recreation
Center on Benham Avenue in April and membership has
grown to more than 300 youths.
“We were victims of our own success,” said Jack Ribas,
executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Lower
Naugatuck Valley. A state grant is expected to cover the
cost of a new gymnasium, a weight room, a computer room
and classroom space.
The proposal had universal support from the Board of
Aldermen.
“It’s going to be a great addition to the city,” said
aldermanic Chairman Ben Blake, D-5.
Blake and Richetelli said with the Milford/Orange YMCA
on the other side of town, the Devon/West Shore was a
perfect fit.