Ledyard — A long-stalled plan to square away the center of town has been given new life with a grant application and a proposal to build a commercial pool and tennis facility on Iron Street.

Further development of the road may require new water infrastructure for fire suppression, however, which could be expensive.

While no formal plans have been presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Thames Aquatic Club has been looking to develop a facility in Ledyard for a year, according to Anne Vitale, the head coach who owns the club along with her husband, John.

The parcel they are looking to develop is roughly four acres at 26 Iron St. and would include a six-lane indoor-outdoor pool, a clubhouse and two clay tennis courts, with the option to add more in the future.

The pool will be outdoor in the summer and enclosed in the winter, using a fabric dome structure filled with air and attached to the clubhouse.

Efforts to develop Fairway Drive, a road that runs parallel to Route 117 and ends below Iron Street, have existed since at least 1965.

The road stops abruptly after the fire company's building, but trimming done by a private company shows roughly where the road would extend, intersecting Route 117 next to the Ming Moon restaurant.

The town submitted a second Small Town Economic Assistance Program application in January, requesting $500,000 to complete Fairway Drive.

Citing the two-phase streetscaping project funded by the same program, the application says that the road would be part of a larger vision for a "downtown" and that the road could open up more than 50 acres to development.

"If that is awarded and we can complete Fairway, it opens up some of that landlocked area and can contribute with the police building and streetscaping project to creating some more of the 'downtown New England' feel," Mayor Michael Finkelstein said.

The town estimates that there will be around $550,000 in private investment if the road is completed, and includes a letter of support from the Ledyard Fairway Limited Partnership, a private development group that owns 29.51 acres in the area northwest of Fairway Drive and along Iron street, including the area the Thames Aquatic Club is hoping to develop.

Vitale estimated the club has about 150 members, which include a number of Ledyard families.

The membership organization uses Connecticut College's pool and offers lessons to younger children as well as competitive swim teams.

"There are really not that many facilities in the area," Vitale said, adding that the business hopes to capture most of the market in Ledyard thorough membership, open swim for non-members and renting the facility out for birthdays and other events.

"I think the town is looking at us as the hub of the center of the town, there and hoping that it will spur other development in the area," she said.

Since their lot has frontage on Iron Street, it does not require the development of Fairway.

However, the lot does fall into the exclusive service area of the Southeastern Connecticut Water Authority, which encompasses the northern and eastern sections of the proposed extension of Fairway, and has sparked conversations about the water infrastructure on Fairway Drive that will be important to future development.

According to Ed Lynch, the chairman of the Water Pollution Control Authority, the town may have to provide fire suppression for the area, which would involve installing a larger water line to provide sufficient water pressure.

He was unsure if SCWA had the ability to provide fire suppression, and said the WPCA had the "pressure and volume" to do so.

Josh Cansler, general manager of the Southeastern Connecticut Water Authority, said he could not speculate as to whether his agency could provide fire suppression until he receives the full plan from the developers; however, both sides agree it would be expensive.

"If that's put on developers, it makes the area less attractive," said Councilor Bill Saums, the liaison to the WPCA. "If we're going to develop the whole road, I think that the project has to include a water main with enough water and pressure to provide fire protection; I don't care who provides that."

On Feb. 10, the Town Council voted to recommend the mayor send a letter requesting a meeting between the WPCA and SCWA about the exclusive service area and future development of Fairway Drive.

If both sides agree to change the exclusive service areas, it will have to go to the state Water Utility Coordinating Committee.

Both organizations will meet on March 8 to discuss the development, as well as the exclusive service area at 9 a.m. in the mayor's office at Town Hall.

n.lynch@theday.com

Twitter: @_nathanlynch