What Was The $21.8 Million For?—

Questions Persist About Original FFH Funding

By Kendra Bobowick

A town meeting in June 2001 authorizing $21.8 million in expenditures at Fairfield Hills started the ball rolling on the town’s development of the former state mental hospital campus. That was five and a half years ago. Today, as actual construction plans for the site are taking shape, the heightened public interest in the development of Fairfield Hills has brought with it renewed interest in that original $21 million authorization in how it has been — and will be — spent.

For example, one resident, Gary Davis of Charter Ridge Drive, suggests in a letter to the editor in this week’s Bee that two planned capital projects — lights for a baseball field and a community/senior/recreation center with a pool at Fairfield Hills — be paid for using some of the funds already authorized in that 2001 appropriation.

The $522,000 baseball field itself is currently in advanced planning stages and is funded by part of that original $21 million, but the $300,000 lights for the field are not.

Also the community/senior/recreation center with a pool, at an estimated $7.1 million cost, is among projects in the town’s capital plan that still need to be authorized and financed. It, too, is not included in that original $21 million.

Since both the lights and building will likely occupy space at Fairfield Hills, why can’t those funds come from the $21 million set aside for Fairfield Hills redevelopment? And how did a proposed new town hall at Fairfield Hills find its way into the list of projects covered by the original appropriation?

Officials worked this week to explain specifically what the $21 million covers, and what is not included in that particular spending resolution appropriated in a town meeting vote in 2001.

The $21 million can only cover projects specified in the original resolution, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal explained this week. Lighting and a community center are not part of what taxpayers were asked to pay for in June of 2001 when they approved the bonding package at a town meeting, he said.

“The bonding allows for certain things,” he said. Lighting and a community center “clearly weren’t what we said we were going to do when we asked for the [Fairfield Hills] money.”

Mr Rosenthal continued, “We said we were going to buy the property, renovate playing fields…we didn’t say we were going to build a recreation center.”

Fairfield Hills Authority Chairman Robert Geckle agrees that the use of funds is particular. “The bonding [was] for very specific things,” he said.

Mr Rosenthal explained that the amount can only be used for the purposes described in a resolution to appropriate $21,850,000, “for the Purchase of Fairfield Hills campus and renovation and improvement to various buildings thereon…”

The resolution also specified building code updates at Edmond Town Hall and playing field improvements at the high school, which have been completed. The bulk of the funds were to be spent at Fairfield Hills, and the resolution states that the funds are appropriated specifically for the purchase of Fairfield Hills Campus…securing all agreements, approvals, water rights, and environmental insurance related to that site; preparation of a master plan; construction of playing fields; environmental remediation of site conditions; remediation and demolition of existing buildings including asbestos abatement and related disposal costs; renovation, improvements, and code compliance updates to existing buildings; general site and infrastructure improvements.

The resolution also anticipated updates to buildings “to be used for school and other municipal purposes.”

Specific mention of a new town hall, which is not present in the 2001 resolution, does appear in the Fairfield Hills Master Plan of Development drafted in the years after the appropriation. Voters rejected the original version of that plan in a 2003 referendum. In 2004, the Board of Selectmen modified the master plan, reopening the issue of whether to renovate Shelton House for town offices or to tear the building down and construct a new town hall on the site.

The master plan asserts that the bonding applies to the following components: purchase the property, construct playing fields, remediation of site conditions, remediation and demolition of buildings needed to accomplish program components, renovation of a building for town and Board of Education purposes, and improve the general site and infrastructure.

The master plan “proposes to achieve the two specific objectives approved at the town meeting in June 2001 — the provision of a town hall and Board of Education administrative space and seven additional playing fields.”

The master plan states (page 15), “The above activities as well as the purchase of the campus, remediation and demolition, are the primary activities for which bond funding is in place…”

Mr Rosenthal noted that while a community center may fall under the purview of what the master plan allows for Fairfield Hills, the structure is not covered by the $21 million.

“The center is allowed by zoning, but not the funding,” said Mr Rosenthal.

 

Details In The Finances

Town Financial Director Benjamin Spragg’s paperwork regarding the Fairfield Hills funding spells out some more details. This week he provided the original breakdown of Fairfield Hills cost estimates prepared several years ago, beginning with an overall sum of $6.4 million for Phase 1 of development. Comprising that $6.4 million are the following: $200,000 to prepare a master plan; $200,000 to secure all agreements and water rights; $500,000 environmental insurance; $3.9 million to purchase the property; $1 million to address code items at Edmond Town Hall; $600,000 for the playing field at Newtown High School.

Phase 2 amounted to roughly $15.25 million and is comprised of the following: $850,000 for constructing playing fields at Fairfield Hills, $800,000 for site remediation, $7.1 million for building remediation and demolition, $6 million to renovate a building for town and school purposes, $500,000 site and infrastructure improvements.

Paperwork from 2005-06 reflects adjustments for costs and income from sales of houses on the property, $1.5 million, which pushes the bottom line total to $23.3 million. This more recent document detailing an itemization for the Fairfield Hills Development Project Fund Allocation reflect funds expended, and the allocations of anticipated spending, all adding up to slightly less than the $23.3 million.

The expended items include the property purchase at $4.4 million, Edmond Town Hall improvements at $1 million, high school ball fields at $800,000, issuance costs at $126,000, Fleet Environmental at $2.7 million, and $800,000 to R.W. Bartley. O&G Industries received sums of $41,000 and $120,000.

Upcoming anticipated expenses include town hall construction costs; mothballing costs; fields, trails, and parking; design fees; construction and preconstructions fees; and North American Realty costs.

Mr Spragg explains that roughly $13 million remains of the $21 million, and nearly all is allocated. More than $8 million has already been used. Remaining unallocated expenditures currently have a balance of $47,000.

Separate Expenses

Mr Rosenthal also explained the current Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). As the Fairfield Hills development plans progress and site work continues, the town capital plan is also moving ahead, he said.

“People confuse what was previously approved at Fairfield Hills with the capital improvements requests,” he said. “The CIP is for projects not yet authorized…we haven’t gone to the public to ask for money.”

Funding has not yet been secured for the CIP, which includes the community/senior/recreation center, lighting, school expansions and renovations, a technology park, and a variety of other plans. Some will survive the round of approvals from the Boards of Selectmen and Finance and eventually the Legislative Council, and some items are likely to be cut. Annually the town departments provide a list of their capital improvement needs.

Parks and Recreation Director Barbara Kasbarian has prioritized a recreation center and the program space it would bring on her department’s list of capital needs. The Board of Selectmen had requested that the seniors, recreation members, and the newly formed Cultural Arts Commission consider the viability of a shared space to be located at Fairfield Hills.

 

Supplementing The $21 Million

The bonded $21 million for the scope of work detailed in the master plan is based on estimates for renovation, remediation, demolition, and other campus work, both Mr Rosenthal and Mr Geckle explained this week as they have stated in the past.

On Monday Mr Geckle again explained, “We may be looking at creative ways to come up with additional funding.” Already grant applications are in progress.

Officials never thought the $21 million would fund the entire scope of work for Fairfield Hills.

The Fairfield Hills Master Plan states, “It was not anticipated that the bond issue funds would complete all activities on campus…it is anticipated that the primary source of other funds will be private investors as well as fundraising activities…or from federal, state program, and foundation resources”

The Fairfield Hills project has gained momentum in 2006 and will move ahead through 2007, Mr Geckle predicted.

With approximately $8 million already spent residents can expect the town hall, playing fields and trails to start to deplete the balance of approximately $13 million beginning in the coming year.

Mr Rosenthal asserts that the town can sustain the costs. “To be prudent we followed guidelines of various financial organizations…the town is still within its means,” the first selectman said.