Date: Fri 15-May-1998
Date: Fri 15-May-1998
Publication: Bee
Author: ANDYG
Quick Words:
P&Z-Fairfield-Hills
Full Text:
P&Z Approves New Zones For Fairfield Hills Land
BY ANDREW GOROSKO
Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have created new zoning
regulations and have approved new land-use zones for the Fairfield Hills
grounds, the 600-acre state-owned property which formerly housed a psychiatric
institution.
The zoning changes approved by the P&Z April 7 would limit the types of land
uses that would be allowed there and also regulate the redevelopment of the
property, if the state sells the land and buildings to a private party.
The P&Z's action converts the zoning designations at Fairfield Hills from
"residential" to land conservation, agriculture, redevelopment, and industrial
development.
Fairfield Hills is a largely undeveloped piece of land situated in the
geographic center of town. After the a Route 25 bypass road is completed,
Fairfield Hills will serve as a major east-west traffic corridor in town,
linking Route 34 and Route 25 to Interstate-84 at Exit 11.
"It's a vital property as far as this town is concerned," said P&Z member
Heidi Winslow said of the sprawling grounds.
Ms Winslow recommended that the new zoning regulations allow golf courses as a
permitted land use at Fairfield Hills.
Allowing golf courses there has been discussed for months, as golf enthusiasts
have argued that golfing is a relatively low-intensity use of the land which
wouldn't alter the landscape very much and would also provide a source of
public revenue if the town were to build and operate the course.
Opponents of golf courses, however, have argued that a golf course would
eliminate potential open space uses of the property and would pose potential
groundwater pollution problems from the application of golf course chemicals
above the area which holds the Pootatuck Aquifer, the town's designated sole
source aquifer.
Ms Winslow urged that P&Z members support allowing golf courses as a permitted
land use on the new Conservation/Agriculture (CA) zones at Fairfield Hills.
P&Z members, however, voted 4-to-1 against the proposal.
P&Z members, however, did endorse allowing golf courses in the Fairfield Hills
Adaptive Reuse (FHAR) zone. Any golf course that would be built in a FHAR
zone, which encompasses Fairfield Hills' core campus, would likely be much
smaller in scale than a golf course in a CA zone due to the physical
constraints posed the smaller FHAR zone.
Golf
In urging that the P&Z allow golf courses in a CA zone, Ms Winslow said golf
courses are consistent with the intent of the P&Z's 1993 Town Plan of
Conservation and Development.
She recommended that an 18-hole municipal golf course be built in a CA zone in
the future. "Perhaps this whole thing is in the distant future," she said.
But P&Z member Michael Osborne differed."I do not think a golf course should
be in the CA zone," he said, suggesting that the FHAR zone is a better place
for such a land use.
"It's inappropriate in the CA zone," Mr Osborne said.
Similarly, P&Z member James Boylan said golf courses should be permitted in a
FHAR zone, but not a CA zone.
The state is seeking to sell or lease approximately 185 acres at Fairfield
Hills. That land is largely in the FHAR zone.
FHAR zoning is intended to permit the conversion and reuse of the former
Fairfield Hills Hospital campus in harmony with the character of the existing
campus and surrounding neighborhood. The proposed zone is intended to allow
the economic reuse of the site while encouraging the conservation of the site
and preserving the cohesive layout of the main campus.
Certain "permitted uses" would be allowed in the FHAR zone provided that an
applicant obtains a special exception to the zoning regulations from the P&Z.
These permitted uses include: retail sales, shopping centers and wholesale
businesses, all limited to a maximum 40,000 square feet of floor area;
educational facilities with accessory housing; light manufacturing; bulk
storage; warehousing; office space; medical and dental offices; laboratories;
corporate headquarters; printing establishments; laundry services; dry
cleaners; publishing establishments; restaurants; commercial or public
recreational facilities; fitness centers; museums; libraries; theaters; movie
theater complexes; houses of worship; banks and financial institutions;
hospitals, multiple family dwellings which include affordable housing; adult
congregate-living complexes; assisted-living complexes for the elderly;
multiple-family housing for the elderly; parking structures; hotels; motels;
conference centers; nurseries and greenhouses.
The CA zone is intended to provide for the long-term maintenance of land in an
undeveloped state by limiting its use to wildlife habitats, farming, forestry
and passive recreation. Such a zone is intended to preserve and protect:
existing and potential drinking water supplies, plant and animal wildlife,
unique natural features, watersheds, aquatic life, vistas and sensitive
archaeological sites. Land with such zoning would be intended for passive
recreation and to retain a local agricultural industry.
Permitted uses in CA zones include forestry, pedestrian hiking trails, natural
wildlife habitat, nature preserves, and open-space areas.
Following the hospital's closure, P&Z members realized that dense residential
development might occur at Fairfield Hills under its small-lot residential
zoning designation. Consequently, they formed a subcommittee to study rezoning
the land.
The Fairfield Hills zone changes and new zoning regulations stem from the work
of that subcommittee.