Date: Fri 07-Aug-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Fairfield-Hills-Selection

Full Text:

Fairfield Hills Selection Panel Starts Its Work

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The eight members of the Fairfield Hills Selection Committee have met for the

first time, setting ground rules on how the joint town-state agency will

function in the coming months as it sifts through various private proposals

for future use of the Fairfield Hills property.

Four town members and four state members met for four hours July 30 at the

state's Office of Policy and Management (OPM) in Hartford to discuss the

state's efforts to sell the 185-acre "core campus" of Fairfield Hills, said

Richard Nuclo, OPM's director of assets management.

Representing the town on the selection committee are First Selectman Herb

Rosenthal, State Representative Julia Wasserman, and residents Michael Osborne

and Charles Wrinn. Mr Osborne heads the Pootatuck Land Company which owns the

Pootatuck Fish and Game Club, a property adjacent to Fairfield Hills. Mr

Osborne also is a member of the town's Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z).

Mr Wrinn is a member of the board of directors of the Housatonic Valley

Economic Development Partnership.

Mr Nuclo, plus other OPM and state Department of Public Works (DPW) officials,

represent the state on the panel.

"I think it was a very productive meeting," Mr Nuclo said. Basic discussion

topics included how the state should market Fairfield Hills to a single buyer

for the redevelopment of the former mental hospital; the criteria by which

redevelopment proposals will be judged; and how the selection committee will

function, Mr Nuclo said.

Arthur Andersen, LLP, of Hartford, the consultant retained by the OPM to study

Fairfield Hills' potential new uses, suggests that a 185-acre section of the

600-acre Fairfield Hills be sold by the state to some private firm. The

private developer would then redevelop the 185 acres based on a "mixed-use

scenario" master plan for the property.

New uses suggested by Andersen for the 185 acres include: health care, office

space, retail sales, housing, educational facilities, a hotel, resort, spa,

conference center, golf course, and recreational facilities. In seven

mixed-use redevelopment scenarios, Andersen proposes various combinations of

those land uses.

Fairfield Hills, a state mental institution which was built to house 3,500

patients, declined in patient population from the late 1950s until its closure

in December 1995 under the state Department of Mental Health's (DMH) policy of

patient "deinstitutionalization."

Mr Nuclo said the selection committee plans to develop a brochure on the

availability of Fairfield Hills for private redevelopment.

"This is a fairly complicated issue," Mr Nuclo said of the state selling the

185-acre parcel and the many buildings which enclose about one million square

feet of space at Fairfield Hills.

Mr Nuclo said the state definitely wants to sell the 185 acres and buildings

to one developer at one time. However, the property might be privately

redeveloped in stages, he said.

Mrs Wasserman said that in seeking a firm to redevelop Fairfield Hills, the

state initially will send "requests for qualifications" to firms on a list now

being developed by Arthur Andersen. After the qualifications statements are

received, the state would then seek "requests for proposals" from developers.

From among the proposals received, the selection committee will choose the

"best" proposal for redevelopment based on the selection criteria now being

formulated by the selection committee.

After interested, qualified firms are found, the state will provide a tour or

tours of Fairfield Hills to provide a clear sense of what exists there, Mrs

Wasserman said.

Mrs Wasserman said she prefers that Fairfield Hills be redeveloped as a

mixed-use site, including some educational institution, housing for the

elderly, a research facility, commercial uses, and perhaps a conference

center.

During the next six months much will happen to shape the future uses of

Fairfield Hills, she said.

The findings of the Fairfield Hills Task Force are the basis for Arthur

Andersen's report on Fairfield Hills. In 1994, the ad hoc task force presented

a report to the state legislature with potential new uses for Fairfield Hills.

In proposing possible new uses for the property, Arthur Andersen has sought to

avoid excessive levels of land use and also to stay within the constraints of

town zoning regulations for the property. Also, Andersen kept in mind local

concerns about protecting the area's environmental quality.

In analyzing the reuse of the property, Andersen assumed the property's master

developer will rehabilitate buildings that fit into the redevelopment program

and demolish buildings that aren't needed.

The consultant's suggestions involve a mixture of partial demolition,

rehabilitation, and new construction.

In engineering a resale of the property, Andersen is seeking new uses of

Fairfield Hills which: have a minimal economic effect on local spending for

public education; have a low impact on the environment; create positive

economic effects on the town; and provide for the use of the existing

buildings and campus at Fairfield Hills to the greatest extent possible.

In assessing the advantages and disadvantages of the Newtown site, Andersen

found advantageous: the property has good access to Interstate-84; sanitary

sewers are in place on the campus; a public drinking water supply is

available; the town is a stable community; and the site has flexible zoning

regulations.

Disadvantages of the Fairfield Hills site include: it is developed with many

single-purpose buildings; there are 1 million square feet of existing space;

environmental problems on the site need to be addressed, including asbestos

removal which will be costly; some demolition work will be needed; and the

property is listed on the state's historic registry, placing some limits on

the flexibility of redevelopment.

In its analysis of Fairfield Hills' reuse potential, Andersen finds that the

complexity of the site requires that there be a flexible marketing approach,

and that the town and state cooperate, coming to a consensus to realize

mutually beneficial and timely redevelopment of the property.

Under state law, the state must provide the town with "first refusal rights"

in a sale of Fairfield Hills, meaning the town will be formally offered the

property before it is offered to any private firm.

While some local officials see the town's possible acquisition of Fairfield

Hills as a golden opportunity to obtain the geographic center of town, others

caution that acquiring the land and buildings would burden the town with the

same problems now faced by the state in marketing the property.