Date: Fri 20-Feb-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Fairfield-Hills-Wasserman

Full Text:

Wasserman Seeks Transfer Of More Fairfield Hills Land To DOAg

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

State Rep Julia Wasserman said this week she is pursuing legislation intended

to transfer 50 more acres at Fairfield Hills to the state Department of

Agriculture (DOAg) for agricultural use and land preservation.

In a recent letter to Jessie G. Stratton of the legislature's environment

committee, Mrs Wasserman asked for committee consideration of the

land-preservation proposal. The environment committee has referred the matter

to the legislature's government legislation and elections committee, Mrs

Wasserman said Monday.

In a past legislative session, legislators approved transferring approximately

250 acres at Fairfield Hills to the DOAg for agricultural uses and land

preservation. That property lies north of the Fairfield Hills bypass road,

which is now under construction.

The 50 acres that Mrs Wasserman is now seeking to transfer to DOAg lies south

of the bypass road and east of Nunnawauk Road. The irregularly shaped parcel

extends north and east of Garner Correctional Institution and is in the

vicinity of the Pootatuck River and near land owned by the Potatuck Land

Company. About half of the 50 acres is prime farmland with relatively steep

slopes, Mrs Wasserman said. The other half is lowland near the Pootatuck

River.

Mrs Wasserman said she had proposed in the past designating some land south of

the bypass road for agricultural uses and land preservation, but state Office

of Policy and Management (OPM) officials were not then willing to consider it.

OPM officials have become more open to the idea this legislative session, she

noted.

She termed Fairfield Hills "one of the few prime agricultural lands left of

that size in the state. Nothing should ever happen to that land."

As the proposed legislation moves through the state's law-making process, OPM

will make a recommendation on the proposal to the legislature.

Mrs Wasserman said she hopes legislators endorse her proposal. The legislature

will either approve, reject, or not act on the proposal by May.

Fairfield Hills land designated for preservation should be open to the general

public for passive recreational uses, such as nature study, hiking and

walking, Mrs Wasserman said.

Mrs Wasserman stressed her opposition to a proposed zoning regulation now

pending before the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) that would allow golf

courses as a permitted land use at Fairfield Hills. Golf courses are a form of

development which would keep people other than golfers from using the land

occupied by the courses, the state representative said.

Mrs Wasserman was a member of the Fairfield Hills Task Force, a study group

which recommended a variety of future land uses for Fairfield Hills in a June

1994 report. The task force stressed the need to preserve undeveloped land.

Consultants

Andersen Consulting is studying future potential uses for the Fairfield Hills

campus. The consultants are expected to submit their ideas on future uses at a

public discussion session in March or April, Mrs Wasserman said.

The OPM has instructed the consulting firm to study new potential uses for

state property south of the bypass road, including the cluster of buildings at

the 150-acre core campus, plus an adjacent 120 acres lying southwest of the

intersection of Mile Hill Road and Nunnawauk Road. Besides the 150-acre core

campus, the state wants to market the adjacent 120 undeveloped acres.

The state wants to sell or lease its unneeded facilities and land at Fairfield

Hills to raise revenue. Fairfield Hills closed as a state psychiatric

institution in 1995 as the Department of Mental Health (DMH) pursued its

policy of patient "deinstitutionalization."

P&Z members are considering rezoning the 650-acre Fairfield Hills and adopting

some new zoning regulations listing land uses that would be allowed there,

including golf courses.

The state isn't subject to town zoning regulations. Such a rezoning by the P&Z

would take effect if the state sells its holdings at Fairfield Hills. If the

state were to lease its property to a private party, it is legally unclear

whether new zoning designations would apply.

P&Z members were scheduled to discuss the proposed rezoning of Fairfield Hills

at their meeting Thursday, February 19, after the deadline for this edition of

The Newtown Bee.

P&Z members are considering rezoning Fairfield Hills with an eye toward

creating land-use zones for industrial development, land conservation,

agriculture and the adaptive re-use of existing buildings.

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

residential development could might occur at Fairfield Hills under its

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

subcommittee to study rezoning the land.

If P&Z members endorse the proposed rezoning plus new zoning regulations for

the area, the matter would be submitted for comments at a public hearing

before the P&Z acts on it.