Date: Fri 20-Sep-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

FHH-state-Watertown-Hall

Full Text:

with photo... State Eyes Watertown Hall For Newtown Use

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

The state is looking at Watertown Hall on the campus of Fairfield Hills

Hospital as a possible permanent site for some town offices, according to

State Representative Julia Wasserman.

"The state's Office of Policy and Management (OPM) is very quietly looking at

Watertown Hall for future use of the building by the town," she told the

Legislative Council Wednesday night.

Town Hall South flooded again Wednesday morning following 36 hours of straight

rain, putting even more pressure on town officials to find a temporary site to

move employees as the building continues to deteriorate. The building houses

the police department on the upper level and several land-use offices, Parks &

Recreation and building downstairs.

First Selectman Bob Cascella continues his search for a short-term location

until he can find a permanent spot. Mr Wasserman said she doesn't expect the

state to make any decision of Watertown Hall for at least three or four

months.

Both Mrs Wasserman and Mr Cascella are members of the Fairfield Hills

Implementation Oversight Committee, an ad hoc panel formed to monitor future

potential uses of the 670-acre grounds.

The state psychiatric institution closed last December as part of the state's

policy of deinstitutionalization in which patients were moved to community

settings and some transferred to Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown.

There are 140 buildings on the site and more than 1.5 million square feet of

empty space.

For now, the top priority according to Mr Cascella, is surveying the Fairfield

Hills property to determine exact boundary lines, especially the 40-50 acres

adjacent to Commerce Road that the state has agreed to lease to the town for

local economic development for about a $1 per year. The first selectman said

he is anxious to get the land surveyed so that the town can begin determining

how best to use the land.

Of course, the town is still owed an additional 22.6 acres from the state as

part of an agreement that brought Garner Correctional Institution to town.

The town also receives $850,000 each year in PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes)

money from the state for the prison, but, according to Mrs Wasserman, that has

meant less annual assistance for Newtown from the Mashantucket Pequot Fund.

"Any time that a town has PILOT money coming in from the state, it gets less

than its fair share of Pequot money," she explained. "It's totally unfair, but

that's the way it's set up."

Mrs Wasserman pointed out that Newtown used to receive about $550,000 a year

from the state in Pequot money, but now takes in only $350,000.

The news is not all bad, according to Mr Cascella. He said the state has

agreed to pay the town $300,000 to be split up by the five volunteer fire

departments, who are all secondary responders to the prison. Each department

will receive $60,000 to be used for infrastructure improvements.

Mrs Wasserman said "shovels are expected to be in the ground" by the spring of

1997 for construction of the east-west bypass road, which is expected to carry

traffic across the campus. It would link Route 25 to Interstate 84 and Route

34. The connector is expected to alleviate heavy truck congestion in the

center of town. The state agreed to build the road as part of a legal

agreement that settled the town's lawsuit against the state for building

Garner in Newtown.

Despite the closing of Fairfield Hills State Hospital, Mrs Wasserman said it

still costs the state $2.3 million to keep the campus open. Before the

hospital closed, the state spent $128 million annually for the facility.