Residents with specific questions for First Selectman Dan Rosenthal and representatives of two development firms who have done historical/institutional to mixed use conversions are urged to e-mail those questions to The Newtown Bee by noon on Monday, October 5.

That evening, Newtown Bee Associate Editor John Voket will be moderating the final in a series of information sessions ahead of an Election Day referendum where local voters can accept or reject possible, limited mixed residential development in up to two renovated existing buildings on the town-owned campus. Send questions for consideration to john@thebee.com — with “Fairfield Hills questions” in the subject line.

No questions will be accepted during the webcast.

Unlike previous information forums held live and conducted by Rosenthal at Newtown High School, the pandemic has necessitated shifting this final session to a Facebook Live webcast that will be captured on Zoom, and will be posted for subsequent viewing on the Newtown Bee’s YouTube channel. And while the first selectman will provide introductory remarks, respond to appropriate questions, and will tee up the presenters, he felt this session should be hosted by a neutral, non-municipal moderator.

“I’m hoping that by bringing in a couple of organizations that have already had some success doing institutional to mixed use conversions that we’ll be able to illustrate what could be, by looking at an overview of their portfolios, and having them respond to questions from residents,” Rosenthal said.

The webcast will open with the first selectman and transition to two separate presentations during the first half-hour, leaving plenty of time for participants to respond to questions.

The three initial community conversations were devised by Rosenthal after a volunteer committee reviewing the master plan unanimously recommended including possible mixed-use development. That advisory committee work included a survey that took most of the possible future options for remaining institutional buildings on the campus into consideration.

The results indicated there were many residents opposed the idea of housing, but who favored revenue-generating development. However, Rosenthal previously noted that there was nothing in the survey related to the future of those remaining buildings if they are not part of a mixed-use development proposal.

“Those survey results have to be viewed in respect to the fact that they leave out a big question about what the town should do with the remaining buildings,” he said.

Concerns and misinformation that quickly began circulating in the wake of the released master plan revision recommendations motivated Rosenthal to hit pause as he and other officials instead decided to hold several community conversations on the mixed-use proposal before scripting an advisory question for voters to consider.

Following COVID-19-related delays in holding the final informational session with possible developers and crafting the ballot question, recent deliberations among members of the Legislative Council produced the November 3 ballot question that will empower residents to determine whether mixed-use commercial/residential development will move forward as an option in the Fairfield Hills Master Plan:

“Should the Town of Newtown consider commercial proposals at the Fairfield Hills campus that include a housing component, provided that a housing component would be limited to no more than two of the existing buildings, and that the renovation is consistent with the architectural vision for the property?”

While the question is technically advisory in nature, Rosenthal said results of the referendum would be binding as far as he is concerned. If the measure does not pass, he has said the town will likely move forward committing future bonding to razing most of the remaining buildings.

The potential costs to eventually remediate and demolish all remaining unusable institutional buildings on the property were covered in the second forum, November 18, 2019.

To view details of that presentation by CLICK HERE.