The Board of Selectmen at its March 2 meeting approved a $150,000 appropriation from the Capital and Non-Recurring Fund to pay for parking improvement around the Fairfield Hills campus.

Ross Carley, chairman of the Fairfield Hills Authority, spoke at the meeting noting that high attendance events over the summer will push the campus' parking past its limits, and that the appropriation will help with maintenance of existing parking as well as adding some lights. Carley noted that people utilizing a lot near Newsylum Brewery have expressed safety concerns over the lack of lighting in that area.

The work will include two solar lights, some permanent speed tables, a crosswalk with drainage, and "cleaning up" a parking lot behind the Community Center that will allow 80 cars to park.

Selectman Paul Lundquist expressed doubts on using the Capital Non-Recurring Fund for this expenditure instead of waiting and adding it to the Capital Improvement Plan and bonding the money. He also felt the project, if done that way, could be tied in to a larger plan to improve parking there instead of small, stopgap measures now.

"I'm in favor of improved parking, but we shouldn't be putting money towards this if there's not a clear need," said Lundquist. "I'm not in favor of spending $150,000 from Capital Non-Recurring, it's already underfunded."

According to Finance Director Glenys Salas, the town currently has $784,000 in the Capital And Non-Recurring Fund and would have $635,000 left after the appropriation. She said the amount was chosen because it was one-fifth of the remaining balance in the fund. She said the town could "spend this amount every year" while it waits for its Fund Balance, which has fallen below its normal levels due to unexpected overruns in health insurance costs and in the Water And Sewer Authority budget, to recover to acceptable levels.

She said that using Capital and Non-Recurring money would leave the town with "less flexibility," but her strategy was to use money from there while the Fund Balance recovers.

Carley said that Fairfield Hills will "really be up against it" this summer over parking.

"I guess I'm panicking over everything coming at us over the summer, with the new splash pad (at the Community Center), the Tai Kwan Do tournaments, the folk festival, and all the NYA baseball games," said Carley, who also noted he is the one who gets calls first thing Sunday morning if there is a problem. "We're trying to keep people from parking in the grass, we're trying to keep people from parking in the fire zones. We can't give out tickets to people parking illegally. We're just trying to utilize what we have to make it the best possible."

Councilman Jeff Capeci said he trusted Town Engineer John Curtis to come up with a plan that would assist parking on campus, but he wished that plan had been made available to the selectmen before the meeting.

"Not bonding this saves interest costs," said Capeci. "I'll err on the side of safety for the Newsylum people who are walking to their cars in the dark."

The appropriation was approved 2-1, with First Selectman Bruce Walczak and Capeci voting for and Lundquist voting against.

Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.