Waiting Like Wallflowers

It is January, and snow is not the only thing piling up on the Fairfield Hills Authority. FHA Chairman John Reed told the Legislative Council early this month without some kind of development at the town-owned Fairfield Field Hills campus, the continuing costs of completing the necessary work could amount to $32 million — above and beyond what the town has already spent on the municipal center and a baseball field on the site. Unless something is done, Mr Reed said, Newtown is looking at “the most expensive park and recreation area ever developed in the State of Connecticut.” The state’s casino developers might argue with that, but we get the point: Newtown is paying the price for taking on the development and management of Fairfield Hills in the middle of an economic downturn.

It seems like even getting to the starting line for the kind of development needed to help revitalize and sustain the campus will be a major expense. An estimated $15 to $18 million is still needed to demolish the buildings on the site deemed not viable for reuse. Currently, the only developers who are showing any interest in helping the town clear that hurdle want to construct housing on a large scale at Fairfield Hills. Since housing is not included in the Fairfield Hills Master Plan of Development, the plan would have to be changed before the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission could even consider such a proposal. But the master plan is currently under review by a committee appointed last year in response to discontent expressed in the 2009 local elections about the priorities of the plan. That panel is not expected to have final recommendations until next spring, and the delay is turning off eager developers.

At this point, the Fairfield Hills Authority and some town officials are beginning to feel like wallflowers as they watch thinning ranks of suitors turn on their heels to pursue partners more receptive to their propositions. To date, Newtown has not had much interest in acquiescing to housing development projects at Fairfield Hills. Back in 1999, when the state still owned Fairfield Hills and was considering three major private development proposals for the campus — all of which included hundreds of housing units — an advisory committee of citizens reviewing the plans for the state said that the developers missed the point: Newtown wants to expand the tax base, but not with more housing. The chairman of that citizens’ panel, Michael Floros, is also the chairman of the current Fairfield Hills Master Plan Review Committee. Without any better offers on the table, we will see if the town’s citizen advisors have changed their thinking in the last 12 years.

Newtown has changed right along with the rest of the world since 1999. A lot of the certainty we used to have about our ever-improving fortunes, our security, and our expectations for the future have been shaken by events and experience. But that does not necessarily mean that the things we used to believe are no longer valid. When the town decided to purchase Fairfield Hills, it was generally accepted by townspeople and town officials alike that in choosing among options for the site, one priority should be to leave some options open for future generations.

It is January and we feel the chill of wallflowers as we watch “Mr Right Now” turn and walk away, knowing he has tens of millions of dollars in his pocket that might make life a little less discouraging in the next few years. But Newtown convinced the state to decline similar offers 12 years, ago hoping that Fairfield Hills might be something more for the town than just another housing development. We kept our options open. Now we have to decide once again. Do we dance with the next guy who comes along? Or do we hold out, vainly perhaps, for Mr Right?

Spring is not that far off. We can wait a little longer.