Date: Fri 03-Sep-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Fairfield-Hills-development

Full Text:

Fairfield Hills Development Forum Delayed

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

A public forum on the three mixed-use redevelopment proposals under

consideration for the 186-acre Fairfield Hills core campus has been

rescheduled from Thursday, September 9, to Tuesday, September 21.

The session will be at 7 pm at Newtown High School auditorium, 12 Berkshire

Road.

The September 9 date posed a conflict with an open house which is scheduled

for that night at the high school, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said

Wednesday. The first selectman said he hopes September 21 is a date on which

many people will attend.

At the session, each of the three firms competing to acquire and redevelop

Fairfield Hills will have 30 minutes to present their proposals for the former

state mental institution property, after which 30 minutes will be spent on

questions and answers.

The forum will focus on the three redevelopment proposals and not on what the

town would do with the core campus if the town were to buy it, Mr Rosenthal

said. A future forum will be held for such discussion, he said. The town has

the right of first refusal to purchase the property.

The Fairfield Hills Selection Committee, a joint town-state panel charged with

deciding which of the three acquisition and redevelopment proposals should be

implemented, met Wednesday in Hartford. The panel is developing questions for

submission to the three developers to clarify aspects of their proposals, Mr

Rosenthal said.

Members of the selection committee plan to attend the September 21 forum to

learn public sentiment about the Fairfield Hills redevelopment project, Mr

Rosenthal said.

The first selectman said the selection committee has set no hard deadline for

selecting one of the three firms to redevelop the property. Mr Rosenthal said

he had hoped a firm could be chosen by the end of October. A planned detailed

environmental study of contamination problems at Fairfield Hills has delayed

the selection process, he said.

After the selection committee picks a firm, the state will offer to sell the

property to the town. State law provides that municipalities have the right of

first refusal when state property is being sold.

Firms which submitted redevelopment proposals are: Becker and Becker

Associates, Inc of New Canaan; SBC Associates, LLC, of Greenwich; and Wilder

Balter Partners, LLC, of Elmsford, NY. Copies of the three development

proposals will be available for public review at Booth Library, 25 Main

Street. The proposals are also outlined in detail in articles on The Bee's Web

site at www.thebee.com.

Becker and Becker's proposal includes: a family YMCA, expanded athletic

fields, a variety of types of senior citizen housing, multi-family housing, an

extended-stay hotel, multi-tenant medical and corporate offices, child day

care, a public grade 5/6 school in Canaan House, and municipal offices. Becker

and Becker is seeking to have the town become a partner with it in

redeveloping five of the 16 major buildings, as well as preserving open space

for recreational use.

SBC Associates proposes a development called Legacy at Newtown. It proposes

residential, recreational and commercial uses.

"The mixed-use project includes a variety of housing including senior and

independent living, live/work spaces, neighborhood retail, professional

offices, a country inn and recreational and open spaces," according to SBC.

The plan also provides for a children's museum, library, and three sites for

the town to build schools, town offices, and cultural spaces.

Wilder Balter Partners proposes Renaissance at Fairfield Hills. The firm

proposes preserving Newtown Hall, Woodbury Hall, Shelton House and the Green.

The company wants to build residential units in four communities and 10,000

square feet of new commercial space. It also wants to construct a nine-hole

golf course among residential development areas, or an 18-hole course,

provided that it has access to land which is now zoned as a

conservation/agriculture open space area.

The state closed Fairfield Hills in December 1995 during an era of patient

"deinstitutionalization." The facility once housed more than 3,000 psychiatric

patients.