Police Commission Reviewing Fairfield Hills Traffic Issues

By Andrew Gorosko

Police Commission members are reviewing the traffic aspects of the town’s ongoing redevelopment of the Fairfield Hills core campus.

At an April 1 commission session, members reviewed some mapping of a traffic design for the core campus, which is undergoing redevelopment from its former use as a state psychiatric institution to a multipurpose municipally owned complex. The commission is the local traffic authority.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe presented commission members with a voluminous town traffic study on the redevelopment project authored by traffic engineer Michael Galante of Frederick P. Clark, Associates, Inc.

The town has applied to the State Traffic Commission for a traffic permit for the Fairfield Hills grounds, said Chief Kehoe. Wasserman Way, which is a state road, is the prime accessway to the Fairfield Hills core campus. Although it is not posted as a state road, Wasserman Way also is known as State Route 860.

The pending traffic permit application would pertain to only those land uses that are under development at the site, including the Newtown Youth Academy, which is a sports complex, and the municipal office building, Chief Kehoe said. A baseball field also has been developed at the site.

As new uses are added at the Fairfield Hills core campus, the town would seek modifications to the state traffic permit, he said. The town traffic plan would incrementally change as the site is redeveloped across time. 

Mr Galante has produced a thorough report on the traffic implications of the town’s Fairfield Hills redevelopment project, Chief Kehoe said.

Eventually, the road network at the core campus may be incorporated into the town’s broader road system, the police chief said.

Police Commission member Brian Budd suggested that another entrance/exit be created for the core campus. Currently, there are two entrance/exit points there. One is located at Wasserman Way and the other is at Mile Hill Road South.

A third entry point extends from Wasserman Way, but that accessway has been gated shut for several years. That access point served as the main entrance to the campus when Fairfield Hills was a psychiatric hospital.

Police Commission members agreed to continue the discussion of the traffic plan at their May 6 meeting. The panel is seeking to have Mr Galante attend that session to discuss the plan. Also, Fairfield Hills Authority Chairman Robert Geckle will be asked to attend.

Police Commission member Bruce Walczak said he will be studying the voluminous traffic study on the town’s Fairfield Hills redevelopment project.