The Fairfield Hills Saga: What Comes Next?

If you take the time to read through the time line on the opposite side of this page, you will see what a marathon the town has run to reach this point. After ten years of twists, turns, false starts, throwing in the towel and then picking it up again, Newtown voters now must decide whether to continue along the path where all this work has led us, or to stop, ponder the thing some more, and maybe head off in some other direction.

Advocates and opponents of the proposed master plan for the development of Fairfield Hills have a lot of emotional capital invested in the outcome of the vote on August 12, and some of their statements show it. Critics of the plan say, for example, that the proposed Fairfield Hills Authority “will control all the money generated by commercial leases and not be subjected to public disclosure.”  Like every other public agency, a Fairfield Hills Authority would be subject to public disclosure of its lease agreements, finances, and all other business it conducts under provisions of the state’s Freedom of Information laws.  Still, that claim lives on in pamphlets that are being distributed as you read this. It is a scary story, but it is fiction. On the other hand, master plan advocates claim that a rejection of the plan at the polls next week will plunge the issue into chaos, as local officials try to figure out how to reconfigure a plan that reflects the public will from a simple yes/no question. This, too, is nonsense. A follow-up vote with separate questions about economic development, a new town hall versus renovated office space, or any other issue causing chaos in local officials’ minds should yield a plan acceptable to a majority of townspeople in short order.

As it stands, the proposed master plan is a pretty good one that reflects ten years fact-finding, debate, and compromise. From our perspective, the real deal-breakers were removed from the plan along the way. The decision to lease and not sell Fairfield Hills land to private developers and the elimination of in-fill commercial development from the plan ensures that whatever private development emerges at Fairfield Hills can be limited in both scope and time. The plan preserves the town’s options for municipal facilities in the future, while providing opportunities for enterprises, such as health services, that would enhance the quality of life in Newtown in the near term. Given Newtown’s lackluster record of attracting business to economic development sites around town that are far less restricted and, in many cases, ready and waiting for tenants, the suggestion that corporate development will overwhelm Fairfield Hills is clearly a canard.

The limited prospects for economic development at Fairfield Hills also limits the influence and power of a Fairfield Hills Authority. Its authority, under the plan, is restricted to non-municipal uses at Fairfield Hills. Any attempt to expand those uses or the agency’s power or authority by amending the master plan would require the review and support of elected officials on the Legislative Council and the Board of Selectmen, who could restrict its powers just as easily as expand them.

Unfortunately, the Fairfield Hills Master Plan Committee got a little bit ahead of itself when it recommended the construction of a new town hall on the campus. The construction of a new facility is one of three concepts referenced in the plan –– the others are the renovation of Canaan House and Shelton House as town offices. Fortunately, the new town hall is a proposal and not a requirement of the plan. Even though the financing was authorized by a town meeting in 2001, constructing a new town hall at Fairfield Hills in 2005 and 2006, as the committee forecasts, would be a serious mistake given the increasing difficulty the town seems to be having in buttoning up budgets year after year. If Herb Rosenthal, or any other first selectman, chooses to go full speed ahead with plans for a new town hall, that will be his political mistake to make. It is not a mandate of the master plan.

At this point, Newtown does not need still more twists and turns in the saga of Fairfield Hills. Nor does it need to throw in the towel. By approving the Fairfield Hills master plan next week, Newtown will take the next step along the path that will bring us closer to the benefits that were nothing more than a dream a decade ago.