Newtown’s Military Misadventure

When viewed solely through the lens of the on-again, off-again plans for an Army Reserve Training Center in Newtown, the coordination of our local government and the US military does not engender much confidence in either.

We are not sure whether letters have been passing in the mail, or if the principals just have not been making themselves clear to each other. First, the military, after discussions with First Selectman Joe Borst’s office, wanted to acquire 13–18 acres in the High Meadow and East Meadow sections of Fairfield Hills — the only parcel that suited the military’s requirement that the proposed base be located on land contiguous to the existing military property used by the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard. Somehow, the military got the impression that this was a possibility, even though most people in town were dead set against it. Why would the town cede the high ground at Fairfield Hills — the acknowledged “crown jewel” of the Fairfield Hills property — to an entity that would neither pay taxes nor allow public access to the property?

Then the local administration steered the military toward land at the town’s Tech Park site as an alternative with no discernable public discussion of the pros and cons of that option. The Tech Park land, along with an alternate proposal to have the Army locate its facility at the Batchelder’s brownfields site in Botsford, was rejected because it was not contiguous to the Horse Guard property. But last week, the military apparently overcame that misgiving when the Army informed the town of its intention to pursue the purchase 13 acres of the Tech Park. This came just after Newtown’s Economic Development Commission and Conservation Commission concluded that the best use of the Tech Park site was a development plan that promised to earn tax revenue for the town while preserving and protecting the environmentally sensitive Deep Brook and the town’s sole source aquifer. (The Army training center would do neither.)

So will this awkward and disengaged discussion between the town and the US Army end in an eminent domain “taking” of Newtown’s Tech Park or appeals to the federal Environmental Protection Agency to intervene on behalf of Newtown’s source of drinking water? This would be an odd outcome for a process that began with the military emphasizing that it was not interested in developing a training base where it was not wanted. Perhaps the best we can extract from this unfortunate experience is a lesson: Never underestimate the ability of people to misunderstand each other.