Closing Due By Year’s End––

Fairfield Hills  Contract Signed

By Jan Howard

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal signed the contract between the town and the State of Connecticut for the purchase of the 189-acre Fairfield Hills campus on Monday.

The contract was then sent with a check for $390,000, ten percent of the purchase price of $3.9 million, to the Treasurer of the State of Connecticut. The remainder of the purchase price is due at the time of the closing, which Mr Rosenthal expects will be sometime before the end of the year.

At a special meeting of the Board of Selectmen on October 16, the board voted unanimously to authorize Mr Rosenthal to sign the agreement.

“It has been a long, arduous path to get to this point,” Mr Rosenthal said during the special meeting. He thanked the selectmen, Town Counsel David Grogins, State Rep Julia Wasserman, Chairman Don Studley of the Legislative Council, environmental consultants, and Richard Nuclo of the state Office of Policy and Management for their hard work over the past two years in bringing the agreement to fruition.

During voter participation, resident Ruby Johnson thanked the selectmen for their efforts on behalf of the purchase. “We appreciate what you did,” she said. “It’s finally happening.”

Selectman Joe Bojnowski said, “For me and the Board of Selectman this is a very historic evening. We literally got involved with Fairfield Hills. It is the culmination of a six-year process. This is an exquisite piece of property that will be for Newtown for centuries. I could not be happier to be part of this process.”

 The contract was signed contingent upon a final agreement with Potatuck Fish and Game Club, which currently owns the water supply for Fairfield Hills, and selection of a water company to operate the system, a requirement of the state, prior to the closing on the property.

Under the agreement with the Potatuck Club, the town would pay the club’s Potatuck Land Company a lump sum plus a payment per gallon, which would go into a conservation fund to monitor and maintain the Pootatuck River and aquifer.

Mr Rosenthal said the town is in the process of concluding negotiations with the Potatuck Club and all essential agreements are in place regarding water issues.

Mr Rosenthal said the cost of the property was originally $5.5 million, but was reduced $1.6 million through negotiations. In addition to the purchase price reduction, the town has also received 100,000 gallons of sewer capacity per day at no cost, which under a prior agreement would have cost $10 per gallon. “We got it for no payment,” he said, “another $1 million benefit.”

The state has also given the town five houses on five acres on Mile Hill Road, which were not included in the original 189 acres. “They are in very good condition,” Mr Rosenthal said. The houses, when sold, would bring in a minimum of $200,000 each or more, he noted.

“This is another $1 million benefit that has been derived as a result of this,” he said.

“There are things we didn’t get we would have wanted to get,” Mr Rosenthal said of the contract., He noted, however, the state was reluctant to set a precedent to give any concession that would not be given to others.

Mr Grogins said the Fairfield Hills sale has been “one of the more difficult transactions I’ve been involved in. This is of tremendous importance to Newtown.”

He said the property was studied with great care regarding environmental issues, including extensive groundwater and material testing. As a contingency, he said, the town must have a remedial action plan in place plus obtain environmental insurance to protect against liability from any future claims. In return, the town would receive a covenant from the state not to sue over any environmental issue.

“Once the remedial plan is established, the DEP [Department of Environmental Protection] agrees not to sue as long as we have followed the plan,” Mr Rosenthal said.

The Legislative Council is agreeable to the Water Pollution Control Authority being the agency to oversee the water company. Mr Rosenthal said one of four companies that have been interviewed would be selected as the professional manager of the system. Once a water agreement is in place, the company has 45 days to get up and running, he said.

Mr Grogins said extensive research has been done regarding the function of the water company. He noted the Department of Health would check the status of the system before the town takes ownership.

He said surveys have been completed to make sure all cross easements between the town and state are addressed.

He said final testing for the DEP has been completed and final approvals are being obtained for the water system to be turned over to the town.

“This has been an interesting, complicated, and rewarding effort,” Mr Grogins said. He agreed the town could sign the contract, and its interests be protected.

Mr Rosenthal said a single closing would include the 189-acre campus, the five new houses, and about 100 additional acres at Fairfield Hills that has been donated separately to the town since 1998.

From 1998 to 2003, Rep Wasserman steered legislation through the state legislature that brought the town more than 98 additional acres of land: 21.66 acres along Deep Brook, 37.54 acres adjacent to Commerce Road, 34.44 acres south of Commerce Road, 4 acres south of the power plant, and 3.6 acres west of the high school.

Selectman Bill Brimmer thanked Rep Wasserman for her efforts on behalf of Fairfield Hills. “It is a testament to her that Wasserman Way is named after her,” he said.

“Julia certainly was instrumental in those other pieces we’re getting,” Mr Rosenthal said in agreement.

In 1991 the state donated approximately 75 acres as part of the Garner agreement that included Nunnawauk Meadows (45 acres), the property where the Reed School is located (22.6 acres), and the sewage treatment site (7 acres).

Rep Wasserman said recently that the 37.54-acre parcel adjacent to Commerce Road is a “gorgeous meadow. To use it for commercial use is a shame.” The donation of the property, however, hinges on it being used for commercial use.

The donation of the four-acre parcel means that the town would own everything across the street from Reed School, Rep Wasserman said. She said that 264.84 acres is under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Agriculture and the Governor’s Horse Guard.

The Fairfield Hills property originally totaled approximately 800 acres. In 1993, in response to downsizing at the hospital, the state legislature appointed a task force, of which Rep Wasserman was a member, to study the use of the property. Its report was published in 1994. The hospital closed in 1995.

In 1994, Rep Wasserman said the Fairfield Hills property was valued at $100 million by a professional appraiser.