As Council & Selectman Vie For Position—

State Offer Due

On Fairfield Hills

By Steve Bigham

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal has been accused of spinning his wheels on the Fairfield Hills issue in recent months. However, with a selling price for the 185-acre campus due from the state any day, Mr Rosenthal finally appears to be gaining some traction on this longstanding issue.

Town officials agree, if the issue is going to move forward, Mr Rosenthal must have the steering wheel, the brakes, and the accelerator working together. But with the Legislative Council controlling the funding, there may be some question as to who is truly in the driver’s seat. Consequently, the mud may fly.

“They have to work together. If they don’t, I don’t know what will happen,” noted State Representative Julia Wasserman this week.

Rarely is a town like Newtown faced with such a big issue as Fairfield Hills where so much money and so many land issues are involved. In addition, town officials must also consider the ramifications of the purchase for education, Parks & Recreation, ball fields, economic development, and more.

Normally, town officials would simply turn to the Town Charter for guidance, which, for the most part, instructs that the Board of Selectmen proposes and the council disposes.

“There is a process in place for purchasing land. It’s been followed for years,” Mr Rosenthal said.

 In this case, however, the stakes are much higher and the council wants to play a bigger role. This is new ground for everyone involved.

“Every time we try to play a role, the selectmen remind us that it’s not our position to get involved yet. I’m not sure they’re right in that assessment,” council member Don Studley said.

The council appears to be feeling a little uneasy about the fact that so many blanks have not yet been filled in the proposal for a town purchase of the state property. The council’s impulse has been to fill in those blanks for itself, though it has yet to receive the information it believes it needs.

“I’m crazy about it. The ball always seems to be in the selectmen’s court. We always seem to be waiting for the Board of Selectmen,” noted Council Chairman Pierre Rochman.

He even created a Fairfield Hills subcommittee to help keep the council informed. But even the subcommittee has been troubled as the council remains split on how best to proceed. John Kortze, for example, believes the town needs to stick with established procedures. Others, like Melissa Pilchard, say the old model for doing business simply won’t serve the town well this time.

“Time marches on and still there is no resolution,” Mrs Pilchard said.

But this week Mrs Wasserman indicated that a final price from the state Office of Policy and Management (OPM) is due within the next week. And Mr Rosenthal is now saying that the town will more than likely end up buying the 185-acre campus.

“I think it would be pretty clear that if the terms and conditions were favorable to the town, my feeling is that we would purchase the property,” said Mr Rosenthal. The first selectman declined to be more specific while negotiations are still underway.

Mr Rosenthal said he plans to disclose the price to the public once he receives it. The price is expected to be around $4-5 million. In purchasing the property, the town would also be inheriting major environmental cleanup costs, estimated to be as much as $10 million or more.

Once the state makes an offer, Mr Rosenthal said he and his staff would review the offer and negotiate a final price. He does not need the council’s authorization during this process. Under the charter, the first selectman is authorized to negotiate with the state. Any agreement reached between Mr Rosenthal and state officials is not binding and would require the final approval of the Board of Selectmen, the council, and the residents of Newtown, at a town meeting. The charter also calls for a mandatory referral to the Planning & Zoning Commission for any land purchases.

“I’ve thought all along that if we can negotiate a final price by the end of the calendar year, then I would think you could get through all the town approvals by the winter and spring,” Mr Rosenthal said.

Mr Studley believes that the long delay in receiving a price from the state has been a “blessing in disguise.”

“It’s allowed us more time to analyze the issue in relation to Fairfield Hills. It also gives the selectmen more time. I think slowly a feeling of what should happen is beginning to coalesce, and that takes time.”

And, according to Mr Studley, the feeling is that Newtown will need some degree of commercial development at Fairfield hills in order to make ownership of the land work.

Many in town believe the hardest part about buying Fairfield Hills will come after the town takes over ownership. The selectmen in their role as “planners for the future needs of the town” would be responsible for coming up with a recommendation for how the town would go about redeveloping the property. For example, it may suggest that the town enter into a partnership with a development firm like Becker and Becker or Arthur Collins to help defray the cost of this massive undertaking.

The council would then get to approve or disapprove the plan.