Divert The Private Sector

Away From Fairfield Hills

To the Editor:

The next time you take a trip to the center of town, detour to Fairfield Hills and drive to the back of the campus. There you will observe the ongoing project to construct the Newtown Youth Academy. Observe the large area of land needed to demolish the former Bridgewater Hall and to prepare the area for new construction. While much of the debris has been removed, it is easy to observe that abatement and demolition work needs lots of space.

The hazardous materials and the demolished bricks, etc, had to be placed somewhere until they could be hauled away. The former circular driveway is being used and much of the former lawn area. Notice, however, that the valuable topsoil was moved and stored on the west side of Greenwich Hall, the building that stands just south of Bridgeport Hall, the choice of the former administration for a town hall.

If plans materialize to demolish Litchfield, the 63,424-square-foot building just to the west of this area, to make room for a recreation center, you can expect a similar scene will be repeated. Lately, there has been some discussion of demolishing Greenwich House (99,986 square feet) in order to provide parking for the new town hall.

The cost estimate for remediation and demolition of 11 buildings at Fairfield Hills in 2001 was $7,173,600 and that amount was included in the $21 million bond issue. Unfortunately, the previous administration chose to divert this money to construct a baseball diamond and convert the previous hospital dining hall (Bridgeport Hall) into town offices. Little money remains for further demolition. These old buildings, abandoned in 1995, are no longer usable, nor is it economically feasible to renovate and reuse them. The developers who had planned the reuse of the duplexes and Stratford Hall have withdrawn. Woodbury Hall might be useable and, possibly, Stratford is small enough that the town could handle the cost of its remediation and renovation, projected in 2001 to be $557,284.

Dreamers thought that outside developers would rush to Newtown and money would flow into our coffers. Even the most optimistic person realizes that it would take more than 40 years (the life of the lease offered for Newtown Hall) to recover even a $7 million speculative effort. The buildings need to be demolished, but the land must be preserved for future town needs. In 2001, no one dreamed of Kevin’s Community Center and no one could have imagined 9/11 and the resulting need for the Emergency Management Department charged with notifying us in case of extreme danger. Both will be housed at Fairfield Hills.

I’m happy to have been part of the movement to buy Fairfield Hills and to save it for municipal needs. We must preserve the land for ourselves; let the private sector engage in economic development elsewhere. We know not what the future holds.

Ruby Johnson

16 Chestnut Hill, Sandy Hook                              February 27, 2008

(Editor’s note: The $7.1 million for building demolition and remediation referred to in this letter was not diverted to other uses. Funds for both playing field construction at Fairfield Hills, and the renovation of a building for combined school and town use, were listed in separate line items in the cost estimates accompanying the original $21.7 million bond authorization. The demolition account has been depleted because the original cost estimates, prepared in 2001, were insufficient to meet the actual costs of demolition in 2007.)