FFH Authority Broaches Topic Of Housing

By Kendra Bobowick

Apartments at Cochran House? Sole real estate broker for the Fairfield Hills property Michael J. Struna raised the subject Wednesday night, July 21.

“As a broker, the most exciting and controversial [information] is sincere interest in Cochran House,” Mr Struna explained. A developer has an concept to build roughly 150–160 apartments in the more than 200,000-square-foot structure. The project is a $27 million investment, Mr Struna said. “There has been planning and they have concluded that economically, it could work.”

Officials and brokers alike will do nothing more than talk about future possibilities at the campus, however, in the face of several key points: the building is one of several slated for demolition, housing is not on the list of approved uses according to the current master plan for redevelopment for Fairfield Hills, and that master plan is under review by a recently formed committee, which may recommend changes to the plan that may — or may not — include housing. This and other ideas requiring zoning amendments would then go before the selectmen and Planning and Zoning Commission.

“There is no activity to take at this time — this is part of a review process,” noted authority Chairman John Reed. He imagines that the Fairfield Hills Master Plan Review Committee will have to weigh the pros and cons of housing. He also noted, “I think it’s premature to look at details,” as commission members began to ask about apartment uses, building infrastructure, etc.

First Selectman Pat Llodra began the meeting with her comments, preparing authority members for Mr Struna’s discussion. Regarding controversial topics, she told commissioners, “We have to take the lid off and discuss these as a community. We have to be courageous enough to let conversations take place.” Using herself as an example of a resident and official “with strong feelings about the campus and what it should look like,” she stressed, “but, it’s unfair for me to drive or negate concepts. I ask for all of us to treat it that way.”

Hoping to “set the stage” for Mr Struna, Mrs Llodra insisted, “We need to hear ideas and not be fearful to hear the ideas and be confident we’ll arrive at the right decision.” She asked the commission, “Have a helicopter view, and move [the conversation] on.” The authority, she assured, is not the decisionmaking body, “But, you are the starting point.”

Mrs Llodra had also identified from past years’ conversations and campus planning, “two critical areas that generated the most conflict and passionate discussion — what kind of economic development [would be acceptable at Fairfield Hills] and the concept of housing.”

She said, “Those two areas generated a lot of discussion.” The topics “stood as markers for differences of opinion.” Mrs Llodra has “alerted the review committee of the lightning rod concepts.”

Regarding maintaining an open mind to hear ideas, she has expressed the same thoughts to the Fairfield Hills Master Plan Review Committee.

During Mr Struna’s report, he noted other areas of interest. He had anticipated a possible letter of intent to reuse the Woodbury and Newtown Halls “as a package, but we didn’t quite get there.” The potential tenant is “struggling with numbers, but has good interest.”

Stratford Hall, recently the recipient of an environmental cleanup thanks to a federal grant, is another building to garner interest recently. One resident and businessman has stepped forward with interest in Stratford, but no official letter of intent has materialized. A past bid, which fell through, had included an interest in the hall for a restaurant and pub.