Ledyard — Owners of a swimming club hope to soon begin construction of a pool and tennis court facility in Ledyard Center, now that the Planning and Zoning Commission finally approved their special permit application on April 13.

The Thames Aquatic facility, which owners John and Anne Vitale are planning for 14 Iron St. on land presently owned by Ledyard Fairway Development LLC, will include two tennis courts and an outdoor pool, which will be enclosed in a fabric membrane during colder months, as well as a clubhouse with locker rooms and a view of the pool and courts.

"We're very exciting moving forward," Anne Vitale said. "We have everyone in place ready to go."

The last step will be to secure financing, and the Vitales are awaiting the outcome of an application with Chelsea Groton Bank as well as looking at other banks and forms of financing.

The Vitales are planning on three membership tiers for Thames Aquatic: one with access to just the tennis courts, one with access to just the pool, and one with access to both.

Starting at 6 a.m., the pool will be reserved mornings for people who want to swim before work. That will be followed by lessons and aquatic therapy, which Anne Vitale said they envision as a new part of their programming.

"The rest of the day will be open swim and other programs that we're running," she said.

The swim team, which the club began at Connecticut College's pool, will remain the same in the new facility.

Several swim teams from area schools have approached Thames Aquatic about potentially using the pool, Anne Vitale added, and some members of the Ledyard Swim Team submitted letters in support of the project.

Between 10 and 15 families from Ledyard are members of the Thames Aquatic Club, which has members in Groton, Waterford, Mystic, Preston and Norwich.

"It's central to those (towns), it's a great area right in the center of town," Anne Vitale said. "We know the town is really excited about the project going forward and hope it will help grow businesses in the area."

The permit process took nearly a year while the two water authorities with service in that area, Southeastern Connecticut Water Authority and the Town of Ledyard-owned Water Pollution Control Authority, could not come to terms about how to provide water to the proposed facility.

After several compromises fell through, former Ledyard Mayor Michael Finkelstein arranged several meetings between the organizations, the developer and the water division of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection a few weeks ago.

After the meeting, DEEP agreed to allow Thames Aquatic to use a well at the proposed facility.

"This was fairly complicated from land use perspective ... they worked very hard on this and maintained their commitment to Ledyard, they should be congratulated," Ledyard Planning Director Charles Karno said.

n.lynch@theday.com