A petition by YDowntown Inc. calling on the Westport Weston Family Y to keep its facility in downtown Westport has been signed by town officials, including a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), which is currently reviewing the Y's application to build a new facility on Camp Mahackeno.

Michael Kraewic, the P&Z member since November, whose name is on the petition of more than 2,600 signatures at number 391, offered no comment but said the issue would be addressed at P&Z's Monday night meeting.

P&Z Chairman Ron Corwin and Helene Weir, the Family Y's CEO, also had no comment.

Indy Goldberg, a member of YDowntown, said the petition, which was given to P&Z on April 28, had about 2,200 signatures on it when it was given to the Conservation Commission.

"I think everybody's entitled to their opinion," she said.

Goldberg said the petition, which has a few names appearing more than once, was left at several places in town, including Crossroads Hardware, 345 Main St., and Elvira's Market, 222 Hillspoint Road, and was also displayed publicly on Election Day.

"It was very, very grassroots," she said, adding that YDowtown has made every effort to eliminate duplicate signatures. "We weren't trying to increase the

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numbers."

The petition, which has been circulating for four years, states: "We the undersigned Westport residents, believe that moving the YMCA from a downtown location to the remote, residential and rural neighborhood where Camp Mahackeno is located is the wrong decision for the town. This relocation would in­crease traffic congestion, jeopardize health and safety, create sprawl, destroy open space, endanger the environment, bring overdevelopment, change the character of a neighborhood and our town, and harm the vitality of Westport's downtown. We urge the denial of any application or special permit seeking this move, and we hereby ask you to keep the YMCA downtown. Thank you."

YDowntown member Debbie McGinley said the Conservation Commission received the petition in early 2007.

"You're not going to find anyone who doesn't have any thoughts or opinions on this," she said.

Other town officials whose names appear on the petition include Conservation Commission member William Blaufuss, Hadley Rose, the moderator of the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) since November and RTM members Gene Seidman, Sean Timmins and Diane Cady, and former RTM member Michael Gilbertie.

The Flood and Erosion Control Board approved the Y's plan for a 102,000-square-foot facility on its 32-acre camp property with an underground wastewater treatment system in October 2006 by a vote of 4-1. The Conservation Commission endorsed the plan in April 2007 with a 6-1 tally. In August, the RTM voted 18-17 and 29-4 to uphold the respective decisions of the Conservation Commission and the Flood and Erosion Control Board as they relate to the town's Waterway Protection Line Ordinance.

Rose said he was an RTM member for District 3 when he signed the petition a few years ago and wrote a letter to this newspaper a couple years ago stating a preference for putting the Family Y on Winslow Park. He said the RTM voted about a year-and-a-half ago to find a downtown solution for the Y.

"My preference would be that they'd come up with something different (than Mahackeno)," he said. "It's no great secret."

Blaufuss, who voted against the Y's application because "we're adding pollutants to the river," said he was not sure when he signed the petition, but did so because wants the Y to stay downtown. He said the downtown gives the Y a central location, whereas putting it on Mahackeno will increase traffic in the area, create sprawl and de­crease property values.

"I don't think it's necessary," he said.

Gilbertie, a 51-year Y member, said he recalls signing the petition at Crossroads Hardware before the Y's application went before the Conservation Commission.

"If they put the Y at Mahackeno, it's going to be a disaster for traffic alone," he said.

He said it would be a "double disaster" because a shopping center may be built where the Family Y has been since 1923 at the corner of Post Road East and Main Street.

"It would create more traffic downtown," he said.

Gilbertie said the Family Y should sell some of Camp Mahackeno to finance the construction of a new facility at its current location.

"That way, we don't have a shopping center downtown and we don't have a sewer issue (at Camp Mahackeno)," he said.

He said Camp Mahackeno might end up with 10 houses on it if it sold 20 acres.

"Big deal," he said. "Or the town could buy it for another park."

Seidman, who is serving his second term on the RTM, said he wants the Y stay downtown, but if it's built at Mahackeno, he'd like to see it connected to the town sewer instead of using the proposed underground wastewater treatment system.

"I wouldn't have signed it while I was on the RTM because it would have prejudiced me," he said.

Seidman called for a "sense of the meeting resolution" to putting the Family Y on the town sewer when the RTM was considering the Y's application, but withdrew it and decided he would bring it before the RTM again if P&Z approved the Family Y's plan.

He said the town should have a summit on how to keep the Family Y downtown.

"There are so many really good ideas, and I don't think the boat has left the shore yet," he said.

Other officials whose names are on the petition are State Rep. Joe Mioli, Zoning Board of Appeals member Bill Harris and Board of Education member Don O'Day.

Cady, a third-term RTM member and chairman of the RTM's Environment Committee, said, "I firmly believe the Y belongs downtown for the sake of the environment, accessibility and proximity to the senior center."

A message left with Timmins was not returned as of press time.