Date: Fri 05-Jun-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Fairfield-Hills

Full Text:

Consultants Sketch Out The Future Of Fairfield Hills

(with cut)

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

In a report on the envisioned sale of Fairfield Hills, a consulting firm is

recommending a variety of potential new uses for the sprawling state-owned

property in the center of town, formerly the site of a mental institution.

Arthur Andersen, LLP, of Hartford, the consultants retained by the state's

Office of Policy and Management (OPM), suggests that a 185-acre section of the

600-acre Fairfield Hills be sold by the state to some private firm. The

private developer would then redevelop the 185 acres based on a "mixed-use

scenario" master plan for the property.

"The variations on the mixed-use theme are endless and best left to the

creative energy of a master developer to present and support," according to

Andersen.

New uses suggested by Andersen for the 185 acres include: health care, office

space, retail sales, housing, educational facilities, a hotel, resort, spa,

conference center, golf course and recreational facilities.

In seven mixed-use redevelopment scenarios, Andersen proposes various

combinations of those land uses.

Forum

About 80 people attended an OPM-sponsored public forum May 28 on Andersen's

findings in its continuing study of the future uses of Fairfield Hills.

Andersen distributed a condensed version of its preliminary findings May 28. A

more detailed version of the study is available for public review at the

public library, town clerk's office, and first selectman's office.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said it's encouraging that several dozen

people attended the forum to express their interest in the future of Fairfield

Hills.

Mr Rosenthal told audience members the town will have an equal voice with the

state in determining the eventual new uses of Fairfield Hills.

Richard Nuclo, OPM's director of assets management, said, "We will be partners

with the town. ... We will move forward together."

The findings of the Fairfield Hills Task Force are the basis for Andersen's

report on Fairfield Hills, Mr Nuclo said. In 1994, the ad hoc task force

presented a report to the state legislature with potential new uses for

Fairfield Hills.

Andersen Report

Mark Kitchen, a planner for Andersen, said that for a redevelopment of

Fairfield Hills to be successful, a single sale of the land redeveloped under

the terms of a master plan would be necessary.

"This is a very complicated property," he said.

Based on the size of the site, there's no single use of it, except for some

educational facility, which would make sense, he said.

"It's a wonderful property, but one with its problems," he said.

Larry Kenny, a consultant for Assets Management Solutions, a subcontractor on

the planning project for Andersen, said the Fairfield Hills property contains

environmentally suspect buildings that contain contaminants such as asbestos.

Mr Kenny said the best approach to locate a developer to redevelop Fairfield

Hills is through a "request for proposals" (RFP) marketing process.

The property will be nationally advertised as a redevelopment site, he said,

adding, "We're dealing with a fairly challenging site."

A selection committee whose membership will be equally appointed by the town

and state will cull through the various redevelopment proposals in choosing

the best new uses for the property, according to Mr Kenny.

It could take six to nine months before a viable redevelopment proposal for

the property is in the works, Mr Nuclo said.

Mixed-Use Scenarios

In proposing possible new uses for the property, Andersen sought to avoid

excessive levels of land use and also stay within the constraints of town

zoning regulations for the property. Also, Andersen kept in mind local

concerns about protecting the area's environmental quality.

In analyzing reusing the property, Andersen assumed the property's master

developer will rehabilitate buildings that fit into the redevelopment program

and demolish buildings that aren't needed, instead of protecting those

buildings.

The consultants suggest seven mixed-use scenarios all of which involve a

mixture of partial demolition, rehabilitation, and new construction. All the

seven mixed-use scenarios involve using 185 acres or almost one-third of the

acreage at the former mental hospital.

Possible uses include: a shopping center, elderly multi-family housing;

single-family housing; a hotel/conference center; an executive golf course;

corporate business park; educational facility; retail/commercial complex;

pitch-and-putt golf course; ice skating rink; wellness/fitness center;

technology research and development center; assisted living facilities; and an

age-restricted single-family housing complex.

Andersen's goal is to aid the state in finding a single purchaser for the

property.

In engineering a resale of the property, Andersen is seeking new uses of

Fairfield Hills which: have a minimal economic effect on local spending for

public education; have a low impact on the environment; create positive

economic effects on the town, and have the existing buildings and campus at

Fairfield Hills used to the greatest extent possible.

In assessing the advantages and disadvantages the Newtown site for the

redevelopment of Fairfield Hills, Andersen found advantageous: the property

has good access to Interstate 84; sanitary sewers are in place on the campus;

a public drinking water supply is available; the town is a stable community;

and the site has flexible zoning regulations.

Disadvantages of the Fairfield Hills site include: it is developed with many

single-purpose buildings; there's 1.65 million square feet of existing space;

cleaning up environmental problems on the site, including asbestos removal,

will be costly; some demolition work will be needed; and the property is

listed on the state's historic registry, placing some limits on the

flexibility of redevelopment.

In its analysis of Fairfield Hills' reuse potential, Andersen finds that the

complexity of the site requires that there be a flexible marketing approach,

and that the town and state cooperate, coming to a consensus to realize

mutually beneficial and timely redevelopment of the property.

Andersen identified the partial demolition and the mixed reuse of the property

as a more marketable approach to redeveloping the Fairfield Hills than either

the total demolition and single reuse of the site, or the partial demolition

and single reuse of the site.

Update

In 1995, the state legislature designated 250 acres at Fairfield Hills for

land conservation and agriculture. In the legislative session that just ended,

the legislature added another 50 acres for those purposes, bringing the total

to 300 acres.

The state recently transferred 22 acres, including Watertown Hall and a

multi-bay garage, to the town as part of a 1991 legal settlement of the town's

lawsuit against the state over the construction of Garner Correctional

Institution, a high-security prison on Nunnawauk Road.

The state legislature also has agreed to transfer another 22 acres of land

along Deep Brook to the town as an open space corridor for passive recreation

along that river.

Also, the town and the state are working out the details of the state

providing 37 acres to the town, under the terms of a long-term, low-cost lease

or sale agreement, for industrial development adjacent to the Commerce Road

industrial park.

The state also has transferred Fairfield Hills land to Newtown Housing for the

Elderly for past expansions of its Nunnawauk Meadows housing complex for the

elderly.

The state plans to sell seven existing houses and eight residential building

lots on the east side of Queen Street, as well as five existing houses on Mile

Hill Road South. The state plans to hire a real estate broker to sell the real

estate to private parties.

The state has offered to sell the seven houses and eight vacant lots along

Queen Street directly to the town before it offers that real estate to private

parties through a broker. Town officials are seeking public comments on the

town being offered the right of first refusal on the real estate. The property

would be sold at its fair market value.

The Merryhill Child Care Center of 49 Queen Street operates on state-owned

property there. Center director Therese Hychko May 28 asked Mr Nuclo what the

future holds for that child-care center.

Mr Nuclo said the state is willing to consider providing Merryhill with a

long-term lease, but would prefer selling the property to Merryhill.

Also, the private Addiction Prevention Therapy (APT) has had the use of

Greenwich House at Fairfield Hills for the past several years for its

substance abuse program. Although OPM has sought to have APT move to new

quarters, APT has resisted, saying the state hasn't offered it comparable

facilities elsewhere.

The full-length of the Fairfield Hills bypass road now under construction

should be passable to traffic by the end of this year. Final paving is

expected next spring.

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) is interested in building a road

salt storage shed on the Fairfield Hills campus.