UConn Offers Students To Shape A Consensus On Fairfield Hills

By Steve Bigham

The University of Connecticut landscape architecture program is offering to take on Fairfield Hills as next semester’s project. For just $5,000 or so, students and professors will canvass the town to see what it wants and needs in an effort to create a Fairfield Hills re-use plan that builds consensus among citizens.

Newtown businessman Bill Colbert announced the proposal at last week’s Legislative Council meeting. A member of the “Save Fairfield Hills for Newtown” group, Mr Colbert still believes the town can purchase Fairfield Hills without having to develop it. He visualizes Fairfield Hills being more like Central Park and less like a business park, which he fears may be the way the town is currently leaning.

Right now, there is no plan, Mr Colbert said. “If you put this to a vote, there are going to be a lot of questions. We need to build consensus as to what the town needs. We have to find out what’s best for the town, what the town can afford, and how much development is necessary in order to get what the town wants.”

He fears developers’ plans will prove to have the developer in mind first and foremost, with the town being an afterthought.

But Mr Colbert’s UConn proposal has not received the warmest of welcomes from some town officials, who say consensus has already been achieved. Resident Michael Floros, who headed the Fairfield Hills Advisory Committee, says his group’s recommendation has already been set in motion. The Board of Selectmen’s proposed “request for proposals” (RFP) released to the public last week directs developers to use the reuse plan drawn up by the Fairfield Hills Advisory Committee as a guide for their plans.

“We can keep going around and around in a circle if we stop every time someone opposes some of this,” Mr Floros said. “When are we going to put a stake in the ground and go forward?”

But Mr Colbert fears the town made the presumption that it had to have some development on the campus in order for it to be affordable. As for consensus already being achieved… “If there is, why is there so much dissention? Nobody in town has a feel for what is going on,” Mr Colbert said. “A lot of people are asking, ‘What is the plan?’ The advisory committee did a lot of hard work and there is lots of value to what they did, but there is still great confusion, in my opinion. If they were to have a vote tomorrow, which way could you go? We don’t know how much it would cost.”

Mr Colbert has already met with First Selectman Herb Rosenthal regarding the UConn plan and received what he described as a lukewarm reception.

“I don’t think he’s open to another approach to this. He’s using what we’ve already done,” he said. “I just think he’s forcing this thing. The people will ultimately have the final decision.”

Mr Rosenthal this week concurred with Mr Floros, saying the process needs to move forward.

All Lands Have A Value

Under the guidance of Professor Peter Miniutii, the University of Connecticut proposes to undertake a massive study of the town. Professor Miniutti, a professional planner, specializes in urban and community planning and provides and has provided outreach programs to numerous towns across the state.

“My premise is all lands within a town have a value to them. My philosophy is pro sensible development,” the professor explained. “Developers are necessary people in our society, but they are not trained to balance the common good of a town with the benefits of a particular project.”

The professor would assign Newtown and Fairfield Hills to approximately 15 architectural students, who would collect data and come up with a series of alternatives.

“We help people to say, ‘What’s the vision of the future?’ If we did this scenario, this is what it would look like. Or another scenario would look like this,” Professor Miniutti explained. “We would then put it in front of people and say what do you think about this? We can redefine what people want for their community. We try to come up with consensus.”

Most importantly, Professor Miniutti said, the program would produce a rendering in the end to portray the findings of the study.

“If you have an advocate for the town, you can get a lot more out of developers,” he explained.