The Future of

Fairfield Hills

To the Editor:

What shall it become? A commercial venture of office space and retail stores or the future location for emergency services, senior center, recreation center, athletic fields, schools, outdoor concerts, a place to congregate and enrich our lives? Are we wise enough to plan ahead?

The state has projected that Newtown will grow by 49 percent in the next 30 years, reaching 35,030, adding perhaps 10,000 new residents. In 1960, our population was 10,939, and 1,662 students were enrolled in public school. Will new families add 1,600 or more pupils? If we don’t set aside land now to accommodate this growth, we will leave the next generation to find a solution. By that time, land will be even more costly than it is today.

The Fairfield Hills Authority has different plans, including reuse of several buildings and allowing the construction of three, new 25,000-square-foot buildings. Hawley Realty, the company set to lease Newtown Hall, developed the Wal-Mart and Stop & Shop centers in Danbury. Is that what you want to see in Newtown? P&Z now limits the size of commercial buildings, but that could change. The authority projects $665,000 in tax revenue, but also requests $525,000 for their operating budget in 2008-09. Only negligible tax relief would occur even if all of Fairfield Hills were consumed by commercial businesses, but politicians continue to sing the economic development song.

Little money is left in the bond issue; the Fairfield Hills Authority chose to spend the $7,173,600 provided for abatement and demolition of unusable buildings to convert Bridgeport Hall into a town hall, using $10.4 million. No one asked taxpayers to vote our approval; no one even asked our opinion?

Now, the selectmen are requesting an additional $400,000 to demolish Litchfield House to make way for a recreation center. The $1 million bond request is joined to a $600,000 appropriation for design of this recreation center. I guess they thought we taxpayers wouldn’t notice.

The unusable buildings must come down; let’s have the total cost, vote, and get the job done to preserve Fairfield Hills for town needs. We were promised seven new playing fields, including a softball diamond, but the Fairfield Hills Authority ignores the need for long-term planning for playing fields.

By insisting that the town act as a developer, the Fairfield Hills Authority and the previous administration have squandered our bond money. We cannot afford the costs of installing a utilities loop ($1 to $ 2 million, providing parking for 785 commercial spaces at $1 to $2 million), and other unforeseen expenses. The one-time payments for lease of the buildings, about $2.3 million, will not be enough money to cover these costs.

It’s time to recognize that Newtowners cannot afford to be developers. No more money for the Fairfield Hills Authority. Members should step aside, and let real, long range planning begin by those more interested in preserving our community instead of enriching developers.

Ruby Johnson

16 Chestnut Hill, Sandy Hook                                 January 23, 2008

(Editor’s note: Hawley Realty is developing medical offices at Fairfield Hills for Danbury Hospital, not retail box stores. Also, this week, the Board of Selectmen withdrew its $1 million bond request for work on a recreation center at Fairfield Hills.)