Board Of Selectmen Agrees To Meet With Becker &_Becker

By Steve Bigham

Bruce Becker was quick to RSVP First Selectman Herb Rosenthal this week after receiving an invitation to speak at next Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting.

The answer was “yes.”

Mr Becker, president of the development firm of Becker and Becker, appears to have regained the attention of the town. Mr Becker has been working for more than a year to win the right to re-develop Fairfield Hills, and despite falling out of favor for a time, he has gotten his foot through the door once again.

He will present his proposed plan next week at 7:30 pm at the Cyrenius H. Booth Library.

Mr Rosenthal said he agreed to have Mr Becker speak after receiving a letter from him, suggesting there may be some misconceptions about his company’s plan for the adaptive re-use of the campus.

Monday’s presentation will be the first face-to-face meeting between Becker and Becker and the Board of Selectmen. While the New Canaan firm has spoken to many community groups in Newtown, it has never had a chance to speak directly to town officials.

“This is our first opportunity we’ve had to speak to town leaders about our proposal – other than the public forum last September,” Mr Becker said, welcoming the chance to meet with Mr Rosenthal, Joe Bojnowski, and Bill Brimmer. “We have spent over a year working on a plan designed to meet the community’s needs.”

Mr Becker believes the lack of communication has created some misconceptions, mainly about his plan to receive historic tax credits and the fact that only 14 percent of his plan is non age-restricted housing.

 Mr Becker will also discuss his plans for Cochran House now that it is no longer being considered for a 5/6 school. The building contains 200,000 square feet that he believes would be ideal for some commercial use.

The meat of the Becker and Becker proposal calls for a “simultaneous” closing and offers the town 100 or more acres of open space, a handful of buildings, and no town liability over what could be as much as $14-15 million in environmental clean-up costs. He said his plan gives the town all it needs while relieving it of the burden of going into the private development business.

“It’s a simultaneous closing where if the town decides not to purchase the entire property, the town would acquire 110 acres of open space and five buildings for town use. The balance of the buildings we would restore and redevelop and put on the tax rolls, so the town doesn’t have to worry about that very complex, costly process itself,” he said.

Mr Becker said he still receives phone calls from residents who believe his re-use plan still has merit.