Date: Fri 13-Mar-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Fairfield-Hills-re-zoning

Full Text:

Hearing Set For P&Z Rezoning Plan For Fairfield Hills

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Planning and Zoning Commission members (P&Z) plan to conduct a public hearing

to air their proposal to rezone Fairfield Hills, the sprawling property in the

center of town which the state is seeking to sell or lease.

The town's rezoning of the land would place certain limits on how the property

could be developed if it is sold by the state. However, if the state retains

ownership, it is not subject to town zoning regulations. It is unclear whether

the provisions of rezoning would apply to the land if the state leases out the

property.

"The `crunch time' has come," P&Z member Heidi Winslow said March 5 in urging

P&Z members to comment on the provisions of the rezoning proposal and submit

it to a public hearing. Ms Winslow is a member of a P&Z subcommittee which has

prepared the rezoning proposal. The hearing is slated for April 2.

Golf Courses

The rezoning subcommittee has been divided over whether golf courses should be

allowed at Fairfield Hills.

Ms Winslow favors golf courses. Subcommittee member Stephen Adams opposes

them. Subcommittee member Elizabeth Stocker has taken no position on the

matter.

Ms Winslow explained the issue.

Golf courses are a good land use because they are viable "open space" uses of

the land, she said. Golf courses are a "long term" land use that prevent other

"noxious" uses of the property, she added. She also said a golf course could

be an economic boon.

Negative aspects of golf courses involve the environmental harm caused by

erosion, siltation and the recountouring of the land, she said, noting also

that maintaining golf courses involves the use of chemicals.

Mr Adams did not attend the March 5 session.

Ms Stocker noted that about 100 acres of the 600 acres remaining at Fairfield

Hills is in the Borough of Newtown and not under the P&Z's jurisdiction.

Borough zoning matters are handled by the Borough Zoning Commission.

While P&Z members are apparently comfortable designating 165 acres at

Fairfield Hills as a Fairfield Hills Adaptive Re-use (FHAR) zone, the state is

seeking to sell or lease those 165 acres, plus another 20 acres which the P&Z

wants to preserve for land conservation and agriculture.

In an earlier version of the rezoning proposal, the subcommittee suggested

designating 135 acres for an adaptive re-use zone.

In 1995, the state legislature voted to protect 250 acres at the property for

conservation and agriculture.

State Rep Julia Wasserman has submitted proposed legislation which would bring

the protected area up to approximately 300 acres.

Of the rezoning proposal, Ms Winslow said, "This (rezoning) is a very flexible

use of the property. It allows mixed use."

"You may liken this to the Sandy Hook Design District, as it is pretty site-

specific," she said. The design district allows greater latitude than usual in

the redevelopment of Sandy Hook Center.

All the land uses which would be allowed in a Fairfield Hills Adaptive Re-use

zone would be subject to the "special exception" provisions of the zoning

regulations.

In February, Richard Nuclo, head of physical assets management for the state

Office of Policy and Management (OPM), said the rezoning plan proposed for

Fairfield Hills by the P&Z subcommittee is largely in agreement with the 1994

report on future uses of the property which was prepared by the Fairfield

Hills Task Force in 1994.

Designating 185 acres as an adaptive reuse zone would provide the state with

some open land to market, making the offering more appealing to potential

buyers or tenants, according to Mr Nuclo. The open land is adjacent to the

core campus.

Renovating the existing deteriorated buildings at Fairfield Hills would be a

very expensive proposition, Mr Nuclo noted.

Fairfield Hills closed as a state psychiatric institution in 1995 as the

Department of Mental Health (DMH) pursued its policy of patient

"deinstitutionalization."

Following the hospital's closure, P&Z members began to realize that dense

residential development might occur at Fairfield Hills under its current

small-lot residential zoning designation. Consequently, they formed the

subcommittee to study rezoning the land.