Town Seeks Public Comments On Fairfield Hills

By Steve Bigham

The Board of Selectmen and Legislative Council will hold a public forum for residents to voice their opinions on the town’s pending purchase of Fairfield Hills Monday, June 26.

The meeting will be held in the Newtown High School lecture hall at 7 pm.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said town officials are nearing some very big decisions on the 185-acre site currently up for sale by the state. Before any decisions are made, however, the selectmen and council members want to hear from the public, especially those who have not spoken out on the issue before.

“There’s been a lot in the newspaper, but was does the general public feel? Are they still in favor of purchasing Fairfield Hills? If we purchase it, what should we use it for? We want to hear from the people,” he said Thursday morning.

Mr Rosenthal said he probably would not accept comments from those residents who have already spoken on the issue. That would leave out members of the Fairfield Hills advisory committee and the group known as “Save Fairfield Hills for Newtown.” These two groups have differing views on how the campus should be used if the town takes over ownership.

The advisory committee envisions a mixed-use campus and recommends portions of the campus be used as a corporate park. This plan would generate much-needed revenue for the town, members say.

“Save Fairfield Hills for Newtown” wants to reject the corporate park idea in favor of something more like a “Central Park” for Newtown.

“This is not an official hearing. We’ve heard from a lot of professionals, town officials, special interest groups, and ad hoc committees, but we want to hear from other people now,” noted Council Chairman Pierre Rochman. “We’d like to listen to individuals and not groups or organizations. We’ve never given the public, the taxpayer an opportunity to give us their views on this.”