Ledyard — A plan to bring a commercial pool to the center of town is moving forward after its developers received approval to use a well for their source of water.

Thames Aquatic Club, a company that provides competitive swim instruction for its members at the Connecticut College pool, submitted its initial plans for the facility in July. It plans to file detailed plans for a special use permit ahead of Thursday's Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

"We're moving along nicely," said John Vitale, who co-owns Thames Aquatic Club with his wife, Anne Vitale. 

Once approvals are secured, the company hopes to break ground in early spring.

"Hopefully it'll be up and running in the middle of summer," John Vitale said.

Plans are to build a six-lane pool with a clubhouse and two clay tennis courts, and possibly add more in the future. The pool will be covered with an inflatable structure for use during the winter. The company plans to use the same system on the tennis courts in 2018.

Many of the club's members are children and teens who take lessons and live in Ledyard but the new facility would have open swim and other programs to broaden its membership base in the community. Some school administrators have also approached the club about using the facility when it opens.

The Vitales were approved to subdivide the 26 Iron St. property, owned by Ledyard Fairway Development LLC, on Aug. 11, with the stipulation that they secure water for the property. The Vitales would then either buy or lease the land from Ledyard Fairway Development LLC.

However, a disagreement arose about which water provider would supply the property.

The Iron Street address is part of the exclusive service area of Southeastern Connecticut Water Authority, a regional water agency that has a small pump station nearby.

But town officials wanted to provide water to the facility via the town-owned Water Pollution Control Authority, which buys water from Groton Utilities.

The WPCA has a large 16-inch water main along Colonel Ledyard Highway, and extending water infastructure in the area could help jumpstart the development of nearby Fairway Drive, a dead-end road that has been eyed for commercial development in town center for decades.

SCWA Chairman Ed Monahan said that his agency wanted to retain Thames Aquatic in part because commerical entities are a good revenue source.

"We're a nonprofit but it will make us a more robust entity (and) better able to serve future customers" which are largely residential, he said.

SCWA hired an engineer to see if it could provide a higher amount of water pressure for the property and found the cost to be too expensive.

A compromise emerged between the two, in which WPCA would build a connection to the SCWA system and SCWA would buy water from WPCA and sell it to Thames Aquatic.

But that compromise fell apart when it was turned down by WPCA commissioners, who felt they were putting forward too much of an investment and not getting anything in return, WPCA Chairman Ed Lynch said.

SCWA brought forward another option: to build a 450-foot connection from its pump station.

But the developers eventually decided a well would be their best option.

Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Mike Cherry said he would like to see both sides sit down in the future and plan for these kinds of developments.

"I think in my mind it took us a long time to figure out water for Thames Aquatic," Cherry said. "If we haven't figured out who is going to supply ... (a developer) is going to go to another municipality to build."

n.lynch@theday.com