Does Newtown Need 160 Apartments At Fairfield Hills?
Does Newtown Need 160 Apartments At Fairfield Hills?
To the Editor:
Now under consideration is the sale or lease of the 193,563-square-foot Cochran House located on the Fairfield Hill campus facing Mile Hill South. The broker promoting the reuse of the property states that an outside investor is interesting in creating 160 apartments in this building. Few details have emerged, such as would these apartments be luxury, middle-income, or even some low-income rentals. What would be the rental fees? What would be the land lease fee? The broker has stated the land lease would have to be longer than 30 years.
He also explained to the FFH Review Committee last Monday night that housing was needed to place people on the campus. In time, the residents would want the services of various businesses such as eating places, insurance agents, nail salons, dentists, etc, and thus an interested developer would find it profitable to renovate a building at FFH or construct a new one and start the process of turning the campus into a business community or an economic development site.
It is difficult to know if local citizens would be likely to sell their present homes and move into such an apartment complex or if most occupants would move into Newtown from nearby towns. If such apartments are needed in Newtown, Iâm curious to know why other developers have not sought to provide them by buying property in town and seeking approval from our Planning and Zoning Commission. It seems a bit strange that a new twist has been taken. The town has purchased FFH, sold bonds to pay for it, and now outsiders want to make tons of money from our investment.
A careful analysis of the cost of providing town services to each citizen and to each school age child easily shows that housing costs the town additional tax dollars to provide the services that citizens need and demand. A financial analysis shows clearly that the town may receive as much as $476,280 in real estate taxes, but the cost of providing town services will be $422,100 plus $167,279 to educate the 15 school age children predicted for the complex by the broker. That results in a net loss to the town of $113,099 each year.
After review of many of the details of the proposed apartment complex that have been made public, I find apartments at FFH unacceptable. The land is far too valuable and may not even be enough to satisfy the space demands for more pressing town needs. A short list includes adequate police facilities, improved ambulance space, standalone senior center, recreation center, swimming pool, playing fields, concerts in the park, trails, school, and â¦.the unknown future.
No housing at Fairfield Hills!
Ruby K. Johnson, PhD
16 Chestnut Hill Road, Sandy Hook                 September 29, 2010