Council’s Fairfield Hills Panel Postpones Meeting

By Steve Bigham

This week’s Legislative Council meeting on Fairfield Hills was postponed because not enough members were able to attend. It will be rescheduled for later this month, according to Chairperson Melissa Pilchard.

The subcommittee’s agenda was distributed prior to the meeting and it caught the attention of more than one town official. First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said the contents of the agenda did not follow the charge of Council Chairman Pierre Rochman. He also complained that he had not been notified of the meeting. A member of the Board of Selectmen is supposed to be present at each of the Fairfield Hills sub-committee meetings.

The controversial sub-committee was created this past spring with an immediate charge to recommend a process for the council to develop a master plan for Fairfield Hills should the town opt to buy the 185-acre state-owned campus.

The agenda, posted by Mrs Pilchard, broke the meeting down into four parts or questions that she felt needed to be discussed.

First, “what is the financial impact of”:

a. The town doing nothing.

b. Buying the land for a park.

c. Buying the land for commercial use.

d. Buying the land with a developer.

Second, “do we need answers to”:

a. The traffic impact.

b. Sewer and water.

c. Hazardous waste in buildings.

d. Which buildings will come down.

Third, how long can the town manage without a new town hall and police station?

Fourth, If the state decides to expand Garner Correctional Facility, should this affect our position on Fairfield Hills?