Date: Fri 25-Jun-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

edink-Fairfield-Hills

Full Text:

ED INK: Fairfield Hills: Just Do It!

There has been a slow but steady shift in attitude among those participating

in the public discussion concerning the future of Fairfield Hills, the former

state mental hospital. The 186-acre core campus, which is now on the block,

attracted considerable interest from private developers, and after a rigorous

screening process by the Fairfield Hills Selection Committee that is working

with the state's Office of Policy and Management, four eager firms remain as

contenders to win the right to purchase the property. It now appears that

there is one other serious contender in the mix: the Town of Newtown. With its

right of first refusal, the town actually has the upper hand.

The Fairfield Hills advisory committee, appointed by the selectmen to consider

the issue of the town's purchase of the site, toured many of the vacant

buildings on the campus two weeks ago. They were pleasantly surprised by the

condition of the buildings, finding that the deterioration suggested by the

peeling paint on the exterior trim of the stately brick buildings was mostly

cosmetic; the interiors of the buildings had been remarkably well maintained.

The favorable comments of committee members following the tour helped explain

why the four competing private firms are so eager to secure Fairfield Hills

for their own enterprises. Evidently, the "empty" buildings at Fairfield Hills

are actually filled with opportunity and possibility.

Newtown has a long history of missing opportunities. Over the years, the town

has passed up opportunities to buy: the "Beers property" adjacent to the

Newtown Middle School; the "Budd property" at 50 Main Street, directly across

the street from Edmond Town Hall; the Congregational Church House; the Italian

Community Center (ICC) field on Route 34 (now the site of a residential

development); and the 136-acre "Gretsch property" on Castle Hill Road (now

owned by the Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport). In hindsight, every one of those

properties would have been a bargain adding immeasurably to the town's options

for playing fields, school siting, or additional office space -- options the

town is now trying to pull together for tens of millions of dollars.

Perhaps now, with the benefit of all this hindsight, things will be different

as we face this new opportunity. It appears that public opinion is fast

approaching the critical mass of consensus that will enable the town to "just

do it" -- exercise its right of first refusal and seize for all the people of

Newtown the opportunity that the private developers are clamoring for at

Fairfield Hills.

The advantages of securing the property for the town are becoming more clear.

Fairfield Hills would provide the facilities and open land for all the town's

future needs even when it reaches its estimated peak population of 35,000

sometime in the next century. (Where, for example, is there another parcel of

land in town so conveniently located that it will accommodate a new school, or

even a firehouse for that matter?)

And let us not forget the disadvantages of letting 186 acres of prime land in

the center of town slip away to private developers intent on capitalizing on

the heated housing market. Housing construction sparks even more development,

and the creation of residential space on the scale envisioned by the private

developers for Fairfield Hills would be an engine for more growth, more

traffic, more schools, and more demand for town services. Avoiding that

scenario alone may be worth the estimated $8 million price of Fairfield Hills.