Residents Review Master Plan For Fairfield Hills’ Future

By Andrew Gorosko

Residents offered Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members a broad range of comments at a February 17 public hearing on the Fairfield Hills Master Plan, a proposed guide to the town’s redevelopment of the former state psychiatric hospital and grounds.

The master plan focuses on proposed future uses of 186 acres of the 189-acre core campus, which the town purchased from the state in August 2004 for $3.9 million. Voters authorized that purchase in June 2001. Fairfield Hills, which once housed more than 4,000 mental patients, closed in December 1995.

Addressing approximately 70 residents who attended the P&Z session in the Newtown Middle School auditorium, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal stressed that “the [master] plan does not require things. It allows things.”

Prime components of the plan involve creation of a new town hall at the site of Shelton House, either in the form of new construction, or as some adaptation of a section of Shelton House; the retention of open space areas; and the construction of athletic fields in areas where existing buildings would be demolished, Mr Rosenthal said.

The first selectman stressed that the town will not sell the 189 acres and buildings it has acquired at Fairfield Hills.

Richard Harrall, of Harrall-Michalowski Associates (HMA) of Hamden, described the master plan in detail, explaining that the document has changed little since the version that was published in June 2004. HMA is the town’s consultant for Fairfield Hills master planning.

Bridgeport Hall, Plymouth Hall, and the structure that eventually becomes a new town hall would be town-operated buildings at Fairfield Hills, Mr Harrall said.

Other buildings that would be put to new uses at Fairfield Hills would be owned by the town and leased to private parties for private uses, he said.

P&Z Chairman William O’Neil noted that when the P&Z recently was revising its Fairfield Hills Adaptive Reuse (FHAR) zoning regulations to reflect the content of the proposed master plan, a master plan proposal to allow eight existing vacant houses there to be potentially reused as “affordable housing” drew much public attention. The compact, white, wood-frame houses at the West Meadow section of Fairfield Hills formerly were occupied by workers at the psychiatric hospital.

Following generally negative public comment, P&Z members on January 20 dropped the proposed FHAR regulations that would allow those houses to be used as affordable housing.

Mr Harrall said an earlier version of the master plan would have had those houses demolished. The revised master plan, which would allow the structures to be used as affordable housing, would involve the town leasing the buildings to families, possibly on a long-term basis, he said.

Mr O’Neil asked whether affordable housing might be created elsewhere at Fairfield Hills.

Mr Rosenthal responded that whether there is affordable housing at Fairfield Hills “is not a deal breaker” for the Board of Selectmen.

Public Comment

Janice Roman of 10 Taunton Lake Road said the town should retain all of its applicable land rights at Fairfield Hills.

Ms Roman urged that the town assume a more positive approach to potential commercial uses of the property. Such uses would generate town property tax revenue, she said.

Local growth pressures are expected to continue, she said, adding that an expanded tax base would provide funds to create town facilities.

“We would like to see a town friendlier to business and managed development,” Ms Roman said. Ms Roman is one of the founders of The Taunton Press, a local publishing house.

Robert Geckle of 35 Queen Street said the current proposed master plan is the culmination of work by three town ad hoc panels dating back to 1993. Each of those three panels stated the need for public recreation facilities, economic development, and public/private joint projects at Fairfield Hills, he said.

The master plan should be flexible enough to allow for changing conditions in the future, he said. The town has a set of regulatory controls in place, which would allow for the property’s redevelopment, he said.

Ruby Johnson of 16 Chestnut Hill Road said the proposed master contains few changes compared to the master plan that was defeated by voters at referendum in August 2003.

“I don’t think it’s [the plan] ready for approval… This is not a plan you can approve,” she said.

The P&Z is expected to act on the master plan within the coming weeks. The agency may approve, reject, or modify the document. The master plan will not be submitted to a referendum, as was the August 2003 document.

Ms Johnson provided those present the public hearing with an outline and maps depicting suggested future uses of the Fairfield Hills core campus.

Ms Johnson questioned a proposal to eliminate a lengthy dead-end road at Fairfield Hills in order to develop athletic fields there. That road, which served as Mile Hill Road before Wasserman Way was constructed in the late 1990s, borders the western and northern edges of the playing fields adjacent to Kent House. Ms Johnson suggested that athletic fields instead be created at the West Meadow at Fairfield Hills.

Ms Johnson questioned the economic viability having small stores do business in several masonry duplexes at Fairfield Hills, which formerly served as hospital workers’ homes.

“Traffic is a major issue…Wasserman Way has become a major traffic thoroughfare and I think we can expect [traffic] to increase,” she said. Traffic poses a quality-of-life issue, she added.

Ms Johnson urged town officials to carefully consider the effects of increased traffic when considering redevelopment proposals for Fairfield Hills.

“I don’t [want] to see a parking garage at Fairfield Hills,” she said. The presence of a parking garage there would indicate that the town has “gone too far” in redeveloping the property, she said.

Pat Gonzales of 26 Mile Hill Road South said that youth baseball games held on playing fields near Cochran House at Fairfield Hills are disruptive to the Mile Hill Road South neighborhood, with those attending the games posing parking problems.

Making a left turn from the northern end of Mile Hill Road South onto westbound Wasserman Way is “very hazardous,” he said, suggesting that a traffic signal be installed at the intersection of Mile Hill Road South and Wasserman Way, in lieu of the stop sign that is posted at the end of Mile Hill Road South. A traffic signal also should be installed at the nearby intersection of Wasserman Way, Queen Street, and Tinkerfield Road, Mr Gonzales said. 

The redevelopment of Fairfield Hills will generate much future traffic, he added.

“We want to keep ‘Newtown’ as a ‘town,’” but traffic has increased, he said.

Mr Gonzales suggested that the town conduct an annual fair at Fairfield Hills.

Joy Kopesky of 30 Parmalee Hill Road urged that the P&Z add another “permitted use” to those which uses it already has approved for Fairfield Hills. That permitted use should be “affordable office space for local nonprofit organizations,” she said.

Joanne Zang of 2 Camelot Crest of the Friends of Booth Library said that that organization hopes it eventually is again able to use Bridgeport Hall at Fairfield Hills for its annual used book sale. The large building is especially suitable for that use, she said.

Ross Carley of 66 Currituck Road said that the needs of senior citizens must be addressed, possibly in the form of a senior citizens center at Fairfield Hills. Mr Carley is a member of the Commission on Aging.

“Fairfield Hills represents a real opportunity…to offer something to the seniors in this town…We really have a need,” he said. The existing town senior center on Riverside Road is inadequate, lacking suitable space for socializing, he said.

Robert Eckenrode of 7 Wildcat Road urged that the town keep in mind “the stewardship and conservation of natural resources” at Fairfield Hills. Strict environmental controls must be enforced to preserve the undeveloped areas there, he said.

Charles Tidd of 26 Brookwood Drive stressed the importance of protecting the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer in the redevelopment of Fairfield Hills. The subterranean body of water is the town’s sole source aquifer.

Mr Tidd further urged that the town formally list which individuals and organizations have profited from specific future redevelopment projects at Fairfield Hills.

Ken Johnson of 16 Chestnut Hill Road said that creating private office space at Fairfield Hills will not provide much financial benefit to the town in the form of property tax revenues. Mr Johnson noted that the town has a 38-acre area adjacent to Commerce Road that is designated for future economic development.

Kim Shine of 4 Edgewood Drive urged that Fairfield Hills generate tax revenues for the town. “At the very least, Fairfield Hills has to be self-supporting,” she said.

Susan Holmes of 6 Hanover Road told P&Z members that Fairfield Hills can be transformed from a former mental institution into an entity that can be “truly great.” The property should be kept safe, secure, and environmentally sound, she said.

Ms Holmes urged that the property also have “intergenerational uses,” which involve people of different age groups. “We have to keep our intentions very high,” she said.

Robert Murray of 19 Farm Meadow Road said, “This is a unique and special property.”

Fairfield Hills should generate property tax revenue and also should foster a local sense of community, he said. The future uses of Fairfield Hills should be keyed to making the town a more desirable place and also to keeping the town competitive with other communities, he said.

Douglas Brennan of 8 Antler Pine Road said of the proposed master plan, “This is more of an idea than a plan.”

“This plan is not good enough for Newtown,” Mr Brennan stressed. “Frankly, it doesn’t meet my standards,” he added.

The plan does not contain a “big idea”…“It’s kind of a potpourri of uses,” he said.

Response

In response to the various public comments, Mr Harrall said the master plan has been thoroughly reviewed by town officials, adding that the document is “not a retread’ of the previous master plan.

“This plan has a ‘mix’ of uses,” which reflects what residents want in the future at Fairfield Hills, he said.

The proposed master plan and the plan advanced by Ms Johnson have few differences, Mr Harrall said.

Mr Rosenthal said that following the August 2003 referendum defeat of the initial master plan, the town conducted a public opinion survey to gauge local sentiment about the property’s future to aid it in modifying the document.

At the close of the 130-minute public hearing, Mr O’Neil said P&Z members will discuss the comments made at the February 17 session before acting on the proposed Fairfield Hills Master Plan at an upcoming session. The FHAR zoning regulations provide a mechanism through which an approved master plan could later be modified, as needed.

 

Redevelopment

The proposed master plan calls for 22 of 31 existing buildings at Fairfield Hills to be retained, after nine buildings are demolished.

There is the potential for the construction of three new buildings, including a town hall, a high school academy, and a building designated for parks and recreation use, plus cultural uses.

The core campus would hold three community-use buildings, plus 18 private-use buildings. Private-use buildings would include housing, office space, and stores.

As the site is redeveloped, there would be a need to increase parking areas. Such parking could grow from the existing 645 spaces to as many as 1,425 spaces.

The open space area on the 189-acre site would increase from 112 acres to 140 acres.