Please accept my response to George Burman’s, “Town should re-explore YMCA partnership” letter in last week’s edition of The Bristol Phoenix.

But, before I do, I would like to note that Mr. Burman and I have previously served the town together, for many years as commissioners,on Bristol’s Economic Development Commission. I appreciate his opinions and perspective as a professional architect with more than 30 years of experience.

Our committee, which has just recently been assembled and directed by town government to access the feasibility and viability of building and sustaining an aquatics center for the people of Bristol at the Quinta-Gamelin Recreation Community Center, located on Asylum Road, has already reviewed this option.

Specifically, 1) Walter Burke, Bristol’s recreation director, has provided guided tours and hosted strategic meetings with YMCA leadership, on any possible partnership opportunities. He, along with town leadership, have concluded that for a host of reasons, some of which I will list further here, that partnering with the YMCA, simply will not be an option.

2) The aquatics center will be co-located at the Asylum Road facility — a facility acquired as a windfall property transfer from an earlier round of the federal government’s Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Act. As such, it is a town asset, including the available land the aquatics center would be built on, and makes no economic sense for the YMCA to invest resources on improvements in a facility it does not, or ever will, have ownership in.

3) The Bristol Recreation Center, located on Asylum Road, is a department of our town government; not a location for a non-profit, YMCA facility, and finally, with certainty, 4) An assortment of legal, insurance and management obstacles will prevent any possible partnership in this regard.

Patrick “Pat” M. McCarthy

4 Maple Shade Court, Bristol

Editors note: The writer is chairman of the Bristol Aquatics Center Exploration Committee.