Anytime Fitness? Not if they are required to close between midnight and 5am

Anytime Fitness? Not if they are required to close between midnight and 5am

The Facebook page and website of Anytime Fitness in West Hartford says that members may access the gym 24 hours a day with a security access key.

But a condition placed by the town council when it approved the gym in July 2009 says it must close between midnight and 5 a.m.

On Tuesday, Anytime Fitness asked the town council for relief from the condition, saying that a “not insignificant” number of members already access the gym outside the approved hours.

The gym, in the Whole Foods plaza at 340 N. Main St., also asked the council for permission to expand by 3,653 square feet.

A public hearing on the application was still in progress on late Tuesday and the council had not yet taken a vote.

If the business gets town council approval, it can go to the planning and zoning commission to ask for a special exception to the regulation that says businesses must close between 2 and 5 a.m.

The West Hartford location is the only one of 1,979 Anytime Fitness franchises in the country that has limitations on its hours, according to co-owner Scott Regina. The franchise can’t use national promotional materials that say it’s open 24 hours, he said.

In looking at a parking study that was part of the expansion application, it appeared that people were using the facility during hours when it was supposed to be closed, said Robin Pearson, an attorney for Anytime Fitness.

“I cannot tell you, because there is really no way to say emphatically, that there are not people jumping the gun a little early [and] going in before 5 a.m.,” Pearson said. “They may be keying in at 4:30, 4:45, 4:59. [We] felt it was a good time to come before the commission to ask for relief from the hours of operation to avoid the possibility that there could be any violation.”

Several members of the gym spoke in favor of the expansion, citing the need for more personal training space and for the gym to be open 24 hours.

Town council member Leon Davidoff expressed concern for the safety of members during unstaffed hours. The West Hartford location is staffed from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Aidas Gausas, an owner of the Newington Anytime Fitness, and David Santella, an owner of the Colchester club, both said in telephone interviews Tuesday that the business takes security and safety measures when there’s no staff on hand.

“We have panic necklaces. You can put it right around your neck and when you press it, 911 is immediately dispatched,” Santella said. All Anytime Fitness locations have the necklaces, Regina said at the public hearing.

There are also security cameras in the parking lots and in the gyms.

“Nothing bad happens, because everyone knows how many cameras we have,” Santella said.

In the four years since the Colchester location opened, and the six years since the Newington location did, there haven’t been any major incidents, the owners said.

“You have to be careful every day, even when you’re here during the staffed hours,” Gausas said.

The Newington location is staffed from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. The gym is busy from about 8 to midnight and the crowd picks up again around 4 a.m., Gausas said.

“We only have a few steady people that come in the middle of the night,” he said.