Consider The Costs

At Fairfield Hills

To the Editor:

Congratulations to Susan Washburn on her excellent letter concerning the so-called master plan for Fairfield Hills. I agree the buildings should be preserved. It is foolish to eliminate the one-way access road from Wasserman Way leaving only two access roads for a complex which will have considerable traffic. I do not believe a new town hall is a prudent undertaking in this economic climate. Leave the entrance way to the complex as it is and use Shelton Hall for the town hall. Woodbury and Newtown halls could be used for town organizations, meetings, and special events; this would be an attractive grouping of buildings dedicated to town use and the cost probably would be less than a new town hall building.

I refuse to believe that renovating is more costly than ripping up the access road and constructing a new building. If the existing buildings at Fairfield Hills require costly upgrades to be useful then the town is making a colossal costly mistake in acquiring this property and it will bankrupt the town.

Can we afford to allow the master plan to go forward without a realistic financial plan that shows a positive revenue picture rather than a severe drain on taxpayers? Development by an experienced contractor working with a clear explicit contract might provide a reasonable chance that any plan will provide what the town needs (not necessarily wants) at a specified cost. In the past the actual costs of Newtown projects always exceeds the cost estimates. Since there are so many unknowns in this case the likelihood is surely very high that it will happen again.

I have a concern relating to the rejection of a developer’s plan submitted a few years ago. Our town leaders were dissatisfied with the plan and requested submittals from other contractors. There were no responses. Did this indicate that the conditions in the request were excessively restrictive or did the contractors feel that the probable rewards were not worth the aggravation of dealing with our town leaders?

I urge everyone to consider the financial consequences of accepting a plan that is not revenue neutral and lacks specific details on how the town will attract revenue producing activities to Fairfield Hills when whatever plan is submitted for our approval.

Note on another subject.

The need for 22 teachers for 170 new students indicates a class size of less than eight students per teacher. I hope they are better at math than the superintendent.

Richard DiPaola

5 Reservoir Road, Newtown                                      March 10, 2003