Carney Visits Wolfe Park

Republican first selectman candidate Owen Carney visited Wolfe Park in Monroe recently, and said he came away convinced that Fairfield Hills should serve Newtown citizens as “town property for town use.”

Mr Carney visited the park with State Representative Pat Shea and State Senator John McKinney to learn first hand what other towns have done with large pieces of property. Wolfe Park was purchased and developed with federal, state and local funds in the early 70s when Brendan Shea was Monroe Town Council chairman. Over the years it has emerged into a 400-acre recreational resource featuring a lake, swimming pool, tennis courts, ball fields, picnic areas, and hike and bike trail, through a variety of sources such as federal and state grants and town budgets, as well as donations from corporations, service groups and individuals.

Recognizing that Newtown’s needs are somewhat different than Monroe’s, Mr Carney said his vision is to take a similar approach to Fairfield Hills by putting town needs first before economic development. He said he is concerned that the plan Harral Mikalowski & Associates presented to the Board of Selectmen recently calls for demolition of half the buildings without a clear plan for the entire property.

“They apparently believe that it’s better to eliminate these particular buildings, then, when we need it, we can simply build new buildings from scratch,” said Mr Carney. “This is fiscally irresponsible at the expense of Newtown taxpayers. The prudent thing would be to develop a good, solid master plan before we bring in the wrecking crew.”

Mr Carney stressed that the Fairfield Hills campus has historical and aesthetic significance to the Town of Newtown. He would like to see the buildings used for expansion of town services, rather than rush into commercial development.

“Let’s wait until a plan is drawn up and instituted, and then we’ll take a look at what buildings we can really do without. Right now, it’s pristine. You can always change that. Once it’s a commercial site, you can’t change,” he said.

Another issue is mixing schools and commercial development.

“A 5/6 school is already going up in Fairfield Hills. We probably will build another school in the future. Do we really want all this commercial traffic around our little kids? That’s a safety issue,” said Mr Carney, a former Newtown Police captain and long-term resident.

As for commercial development, which the town certainly needs, he said there are other areas, including the site near Exit 9 of I-84, that are more suitable. The town could also realize a profit, as well as increased property taxes, by selling town properties such as the teen center in the old town garage and multi-purpose center in Sandy Hook and moving those functions to Fairfield Hills.