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Environmental Study Will Delay Fairfield Hills Decision

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

State plans to conduct a detailed environmental study of possible ground

contamination at Fairfield Hills will delay its efforts to sell the 186-acre

core campus of the former psychiatric institution for mixed-use redevelopment.

"We need to know what's in the ground. We really need an analysis of what's in

the ground," Richard Nuclo, director of assets management for the state Office

of Policy and Management (OPM), said Wednesday. Mr Nuclo has shepherded the

state's efforts to dispose of the property since 1993.

Mr Nuclo said it is unclear how long performing such a study will delay the

state's sale of the property. Initially, the state had hoped to select a firm

by late September to acquire the property.

Three development firms are vying for the right to acquire and redevelop

Fairfield Hills. As part of their purchase proposals, the companies have

estimated the costs of environmental clean-up work. Their purchase price

offers are based on those clean-up cost estimates.

Last June, the town hired a consulting firm, R.W. Bartley and Associates, of

Tolland, to do an environmental study of Fairfield Hills, Mr Nuclo noted. The

state Department of Public Works (DPW), the agency which oversees Fairfield

Hills, may also hire that firm to perform an environmental assessment of

Fairfield Hills ground contamination, Mr Nuclo said.

The town hired the consultant to gather environmental information on Fairfield

Hills because the town will have the right of first refusal when the state

eventually offers the property for sale.

Both the state and town need to know the extent of contamination at Fairfield

Hills to make informed decisions about the future of the property, according

to Mr Nuclo.

"We think it's information that we might need before we negotiate a final

deal," he said. "We probably should have done this earlier," he added.

Mr Nuclo said DPW will set the scope of the planned environmental study. It is

unclear when a study will start, how long it will take, and what it will cost,

Mr Nuclo said.

The complexities of selecting a development firm to put Fairfield Hills to new

uses became apparent when state officials saw the depth of detail described in

the three competing redevelopment proposals, he said.

"I think we were overzealous when we thought that by the end of September we

would be able to do all this," Mr Nuclo said of the joint town-state Fairfield

Hills Selection Committee's intention to choose a firm to redevelop the

property.

"We're not going to rush through this [selection]. This is a major, major

decision and we want to do it right," he said.

The future of Fairfield Hills is too important an issue for the state and town

to rush through the decision making, he said.

Mr Nuclo noted that the eventual redevelopment of Fairfield Hills may come in

the form of modifying one of the three competing proposals.

Forum Is Sept. 21

"I am really curious to hear what the public has to say" about the

redevelopment of Fairfield Hills, Mr Nuclo said. A public forum at which the

three developers will present their proposals is scheduled for 7 pm Tuesday,

September 21, at Newtown High School auditorium, 12 Berkshire Road.

Presentations will be followed by questions and answers.

Firms which have 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 are available for public review at Booth Library, 25 Main Street.

Detailed summaries of the proposals are available on The Bee 's World Wide Web

site on the Internet at: www.thebee.com.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said Wednesday the town hired R.W. Bartley

and Associates in June to do about $15,000 worth of environmental review work

for the town concerning Fairfield Hills. Whether the state hires the company

for its planned environmental study will be the DPW's decision, he said.

"I clearly think this [state study] is what's slowing the [selection] process

down," the first selectman said.

Preliminary Study

A preliminary environmental study of Fairfield Hills performed earlier this

year found there are 27 potential areas of environmental concern on the site.

Maguire Group, Inc, the New Britain consulting firm which prepared that

environmental report for DPW, assigned "moderate" environmental concern to

soil and groundwater on the site.

"However, the buildings are assigned a `high' rating for encountering

environmental concerns, due to the suspicion of numerous materials containing

asbestos and possibly lead," stated Mr Maguire.

Mr Maguire then recommended that the state further study the site to verify

the presence or absence of environmentally harmful substances within the

buildings and surrounding areas.

Last April, Mr Nuclo said he did not expect the state to do any additional

environmental studies on the core campus at Fairfield Hills.

Besides asbestos and lead paint contamination in 17 major buildings on the

site, Mr Maguire spotlighted areas of concern at four open pits on the eastern

side of the site; two unauthorized debris collection areas; two open discharge

points from underground pipes; a vent pipe near Trades Lane; and the

greenhouse located between Cochran House and Plymouth Hall.

The site has 17 institutional buildings comprising 1.2 million square feet of

enclosed space and 19 other structures of varying usage including mechanical,

maintenance, residential and agricultural uses.

"The site is considered to be of moderate risk based on the information

gathered in respect to potential subsurface environmental conditions,

although, due to the visible indications... of `asbestos containing

materials,' the building interiors are considered to be of high environmental

risk. The overall rating, with respect to potential contamination of the site

by the presence, release, seepage or impact from off-site sources of a

hazardous or regulated substance, is considered to be moderate to high,"

according to the report.

The report documents a variety of fuel and chemical spills and releases on the

property which occurred since 1980, describing what occurred and how the

problem was handled. The report includes information on the status of

underground fuel storage tanks.

The sprawling state mental institution which once housed more than 3,000

patients closed in 1995 in an era of patient "deinstitutionalization."