Date: Fri 15-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Fairfield-Hills

Full Text:

P&Z Approves New Zones For Fairfield Hills Land

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have created new zoning

regulations and have approved new land-use zones for the Fairfield Hills

grounds, the 600-acre state-owned property which formerly housed a psychiatric

institution.

The zoning changes approved by the P&Z April 7 would limit the types of land

uses that would be allowed there and also regulate the redevelopment of the

property, if the state sells the land and buildings to a private party.

The P&Z's action converts the zoning designations at Fairfield Hills from

"residential" to land conservation, agriculture, redevelopment, and industrial

development.

Fairfield Hills is a largely undeveloped piece of land situated in the

geographic center of town. After the a Route 25 bypass road is completed,

Fairfield Hills will serve as a major east-west traffic corridor in town,

linking Route 34 and Route 25 to Interstate-84 at Exit 11.

"It's a vital property as far as this town is concerned," said P&Z member

Heidi Winslow said of the sprawling grounds.

Ms Winslow recommended that the new zoning regulations allow golf courses as a

permitted land use at Fairfield Hills.

Allowing golf courses there has been discussed for months, as golf enthusiasts

have argued that golfing is a relatively low-intensity use of the land which

wouldn't alter the landscape very much and would also provide a source of

public revenue if the town were to build and operate the course.

Opponents of golf courses, however, have argued that a golf course would

eliminate potential open space uses of the property and would pose potential

groundwater pollution problems from the application of golf course chemicals

above the area which holds the Pootatuck Aquifer, the town's designated sole

source aquifer.

Ms Winslow urged that P&Z members support allowing golf courses as a permitted

land use on the new Conservation/Agriculture (CA) zones at Fairfield Hills.

P&Z members, however, voted 4-to-1 against the proposal.

P&Z members, however, did endorse allowing golf courses in the Fairfield Hills

Adaptive Reuse (FHAR) zone. Any golf course that would be built in a FHAR

zone, which encompasses Fairfield Hills' core campus, would likely be much

smaller in scale than a golf course in a CA zone due to the physical

constraints posed the smaller FHAR zone.

Golf

In urging that the P&Z allow golf courses in a CA zone, Ms Winslow said golf

courses are consistent with the intent of the P&Z's 1993 Town Plan of

Conservation and Development.

She recommended that an 18-hole municipal golf course be built in a CA zone in

the future. "Perhaps this whole thing is in the distant future," she said.

But P&Z member Michael Osborne differed."I do not think a golf course should

be in the CA zone," he said, suggesting that the FHAR zone is a better place

for such a land use.

"It's inappropriate in the CA zone," Mr Osborne said.

Similarly, P&Z member James Boylan said golf courses should be permitted in a

FHAR zone, but not a CA zone.

The state is seeking to sell or lease approximately 185 acres at Fairfield

Hills. That land is largely in the FHAR zone.

FHAR zoning is intended to permit the conversion and reuse of the former

Fairfield Hills Hospital campus in harmony with the character of the existing

campus and surrounding neighborhood. The proposed zone is intended to allow

the economic reuse of the site while encouraging the conservation of the site

and preserving the cohesive layout of the main campus.

Certain "permitted uses" would be allowed in the FHAR zone provided that an

applicant obtains a special exception to the zoning regulations from the P&Z.

These permitted uses include: retail sales, shopping centers and wholesale

businesses, all limited to a maximum 40,000 square feet of floor area;

educational facilities with accessory housing; light manufacturing; bulk

storage; warehousing; office space; medical and dental offices; laboratories;

corporate headquarters; printing establishments; laundry services; dry

cleaners; publishing establishments; restaurants; commercial or public

recreational facilities; fitness centers; museums; libraries; theaters; movie

theater complexes; houses of worship; banks and financial institutions;

hospitals, multiple family dwellings which include affordable housing; adult

congregate-living complexes; assisted-living complexes for the elderly;

multiple-family housing for the elderly; parking structures; hotels; motels;

conference centers; nurseries and greenhouses.

The CA zone is intended to provide for the long-term maintenance of land in an

undeveloped state by limiting its use to wildlife habitats, farming, forestry

and passive recreation. Such a zone is intended to preserve and protect:

existing and potential drinking water supplies, plant and animal wildlife,

unique natural features, watersheds, aquatic life, vistas and sensitive

archaeological sites. Land with such zoning would be intended for passive

recreation and to retain a local agricultural industry.

Permitted uses in CA zones include forestry, pedestrian hiking trails, natural

wildlife habitat, nature preserves, and open-space areas.

Following the hospital's closure, P&Z members realized that dense residential

development might occur at Fairfield Hills under its small-lot residential

zoning designation. Consequently, they formed a subcommittee to study rezoning

the land.

The Fairfield Hills zone changes and new zoning regulations stem from the work

of that subcommittee.