Four More Show Interest In Fairfield Hills Review Panel

By Kendra Bobowick

Four new names have joined the list of what was originally 14 residents interested in serving on the Fairfield Hills Master Plan Review Committee, First Selectman Pat Llodra announced Monday, May 3.

Nancy Roznicki, George Schmidt, Bruce Walczak, and Mark Alexander have recently submitted their names for consideration as the Board of Selectmen prepares to appoint the review panel as soon as its next meeting on May 17.

Reminding the handful of residents and town officials gathered Monday that the selectmen “were not appointing the committee tonight,” Mrs Llodra explained that in the time since they had announced the 14 names collected in a roughly six-week period, “there was concern that the end date for letters of inquiry was not well known.” Four more letters came in by the extended close date Monday.

Eighteen residents are now seeking appointment to the master plan review panel. “Clearly, it will not be everyone, that’s my feeling,” Mrs Llodra said this week. She does not know “what the magic number is,” but feels 18 may be too many. A subset of the 18 and alternates will hopefully be identified at the end of the selectmen’s May 17 meeting. “The trick is putting together t he best group, but I feel 18 is not manageable,” she said.

In April Mrs Llodra had explained, “I am appreciative of all the persons who came forward. It is a great list of people who want to serve their town.” This week, she added, “I am sincere when I say that I am impressed that 18 people have come forward. That speaks well for our town.”

Members who are appointed to the review committee face a “difficult task,” she said. “The biggest part of the task is to have the maximum opportunity [to discuss] what the parcel should develop into.” Second, the group must do well at engaging the community “in a full way,” which is “always more difficult than just doing your own job …” She had said last month that members will need to work well as a group, be good listeners, and be able to engage in discourse.

Also during the April meeting Mrs Llodra noted that at the time, nearly six weeks had passed since selectmen began seeking volunteers for the master plan review — a process necessary because the initial portions of Fairfield Hills renovation funds have been completed, and the plan itself calls for a review.

In April one speaker had urged caution when making committee selections to which Mrs Llodra answered, “I certainly will.”

Already on the list as of early last month are Joe Borst, Mike Floros, David Galassi, Dennis Kyle, Paul Lundquist, Neci Marr, Bob Maurer, Mike Mossbarger, Po Murray, Ben Roberts, Alan Shephard, Gary Steele, Deb Zukowski, and Stephen zVon.

Taking the next step in the process, selectmen will make decisions about which applicants will serve on the committee. When the list was at 14, Mrs Llodra had said, “There is always good news and bad news.” The good news is the number of people who are willing to serve the town, but the bad news was: “Not all 14 will be identified [for the committee].”

Selectman William Furrier hopes a diverse set of viewpoints will be represented on the board. He wrote in an email this week, “The new committee’s biggest hurdle will be to revise the master plan to something that gains true consensus. To do that we need a diverse group that fully represents the all viewpoints within our community.” He believes the public has felt separated from the decisions surrounding Fairfield Hills, and, “was afforded no vote on any of the revised master plans,” for one and feel they have “no control over the land that they own.”

He wrote: “We can take a big step forward now by fully including all those voices that were passed over before. We have got to invite each side to the table and listen.”