Fairfield Hills Planning Meetings

Draw Community Interest

By Steve Bigham

About 150 residents turned out Wednesday for the first of two community workshops on the future use of Fairfield Hills.

The second meeting was slated for Thursday night in the middle school cafeteria and was being called one of the most important planning meetings to date regarding how the town will use the 189-acre campus. The Fairfield Hills Master Plan Committee is scheduled to unveil three alternate plans for the reuse of the campus in September.

Wednesday’s meeting included a presentation and discussion of the existing conditions and opportunities for the future of the campus. There was also a discussion of input as to potential uses received from a series of meetings held by the master plan committee.

The second night of the workshop gave residents an opportunity to give their thoughts and ideas about the future use of the campus. The interactive discussion was being designed to allow all in attendance to take part in “hands on” planning of the campus.

“This will be a very important opportunity for the general public to let their ideas be known about what they want the future reuse of the Fairfield Hills property to be,” First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said.

At Wednesday’s Legislative Council meeting, Mr Rosenthal said public tours of the campus would take place in September, after the three alternate plans are in place.

“I think it’s good to have the public go through after all three plans are announced so that the public has something to react to. I think this will be more productive than simply having people wander through the buildings,” Mr Rosenthal said.

After further discussion and dialogue, a final master plan will be completed by November.

The Town of Newtown voted to purchase the property from the State of Connecticut 12 months ago. It is expected to take over ownership of the property some time after the master plan is completed this fall.