Following discussion at an April 7 Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) session, P&Z members endorsed the town's plans for the use of a $500,000 state grant to be used toward the Fairfield Hills Streetscape Project.

Voting to endorse using the Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP) grant for physical improvements were P&Z Chairman Robert Mulholland, Don Mitchell, Barbara Manville, and Roy Meadows. In March, the Board of Selectmen and the Legislative Council endorsed the town receiving the grant.

The town will formulate design plans for the work, which will start at the main entrance to the core campus at the southern corners of the intersection of Trades Lane and Wasserman Way. The streetscape project, which includes the construction of new sidewalks and the installation of street lighting, will extend inward to the campus from the main entrance.

The project is intended to create a more welcoming environment for those coming to Fairfield Hills.

The work will light the main entrance, which is currently dark except for one illuminated sign. Landscaping elements, fencing, and curbing will be installed in that general area.

In its grant application to the state Office of Policy and Management (OPM), the town submitted an illustrated aerial photo of the core campus depicting proposed improvements that potentially would be covered by the grant.

The generalized illustration shows new sidewalks along both sides of Trades Lane between its intersections with Wasserman Way and with Keating Farms Avenue. The sidewalks constructed along Trades Lane would link the campus sidewalk network to the pedestrian-signaled crosswalks that extend to the campus from the Reed Intermediate School area.

The illustration also shows new sidewalks along both sides of Keating Farms Avenue between its intersections with Trades Lane/DG Beers Boulevard and with Simpson Street/Washington Circle.

The mapping also indicates a new sidewalk on the northeast side of DG Beers Boulevard between its intersections with Keating Farms Avenue and the northwestern driveway for Canaan House.

Also, a new sidewalk section is shown directly in front of Stratford Hall. Additionally, plans call for a new sidewalk on the northeast side of Simpson Street between its intersections with Keating Farms Avenue and First Street.

Besides replacing existing deficient sidewalks, the new sidewalks would be installed in areas without sidewalks.

The illustrated aerial photo depicts many more sidewalks that would be constructed in the future when funds become available.

Street lighting would be installed along sidewalks to be built in what are now unlit areas.

The design plans to be drawn for the streetscape project would determine the scope of the proposed improvements which can be built with the money available.

At the April 7 P&Z session, George Benson, town director of planning, said the town has been seeking state grant funding for the streetscape project for a long time.

After the design plans for the project are drawn, they would be submitted to the P&Z for review, he said.

In approving the grant's use for Fairfield Hills improvements, P&Z members decided that the project is consistent with the terms of the 2014 Town Plan of Conservation and Development. They also decided that the project is consistent with the Fairfield Hills Master Plan.

In 2004, the town purchased the 185-acre Fairfield Hills core campus plus many buildings from the state for $3.9 million. Initially constructed in the mid-1930s, Fairfield Hills served as a state psychiatric hospital until 1995.