A Bad Idea For Fairfield Hills

When Newtown voted to purchase the abandoned Fairfield Hills State Hospital from the state in 2001, the rationale that cinched the deal for many of those who attended that fateful June town meeting was that the purchase would give the people of Newtown control over the future of this prime parcel of real estate. Whether things have worked out that way, now seven years later, depends on to whom you listen. There have been pitched battles over the contents and even the legitimacy of the master plan for the development of Fairfield Hills, which calls for a mix of uses for the campus.

Much of the contention so far at Fairfield Hills has been over the main components of that mix: property for municipal uses, including open land for passive and active recreation, and property for economic development. The benefits of the former are direct, through the use of the land and facilities by townspeople, and of the latter indirect, through broadening the town’s tax base, easing the burden on residential taxpayers.

Now, there is a proposal before the town of little apparent value that we hope unites all factions in opposition. The US Department of Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) wants to consolidate US Army Reserve training centers in Waterbury and Danbury at a new training center on a 13–18-acre site in the High Meadow and East Meadow sections of Fairfield Hills.

Unlike the municipal uses or economic development called for in the master plan for the campus, the benefits of such a facility would be limited to the cash raised by the sale of the property — up to $7 million by some estimates. For that price, the people of Newtown would cede ownership and access to the high, open, and environmentally sensitive land that most people view as the crown jewel of the entire Fairfield Hills site. Even the parts of the campus set aside for economic development are slated for lease, not for sale, and the tax-exempt status of federal land would not add to the town’s tax base.

So much for control over the future of Fairfield Hills. A military training center, fenced in and off limits, in such a central and elevated place would stand for generations as the town’s most visible monument to thoughtless bureaucratic acquiescence. Nevertheless, First Selectman Joe Borst seems strangely neutral to the idea. He is even offering BRAC officials the opportunity to sell their plan to townspeople at a yet-to-be-scheduled town meeting and speculated that maybe the town could underwrite demolition and development in other parts of Fairfield Hills with the federal payoff.

If Newtown really wants to trade away public access forever to these prime areas of Fairfield Hills  for a mere $7 million, why not sell it to a private developer and collect annual taxes in addition to the proceeds of the sale? This proposal is such a bad idea on so many levels, we are surprised it survived beyond its  initial introduction to town officials.