Date: Fri 15-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

FHH-Middletown-lawsuit-

Full Text:

Middletown Officials File Suit To Block Fairfield Hills Closing

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Middletown officials have filed a suit in Hartford Superior Court to halt the

closing of Fairfield Hills Hospital and Norwich Hospital and the consolidation

of the state's mental health services at the Connecticut Valley Hospital (CVA)

in Middletown.

The suit, filed last Friday by the town's attorney, John King of Updike Kelly

and Spellacy of Hartford, seeks both a temporary and a permanent injunction

against the state until an environmental impact study is completed.

Robert Bourne, executive assistant to Middletown Mayor Thomas Serra, said the

state is required to conduct environmental impact studies for such projects.

"An environmental impact study doesn't just look at air quality and water

quality," Mr Bourne said. "It also is expected to look at the economical

impact and the need for social services that the consolidation would create."

Mr Bourne said former hospital patients would wind up living in Middletown and

relying on city services.

"Patients from the substance abuse and detox facilities can't be compelled to

return to their home towns when they are released," Mr Bourne said. "They tend

to stay in Middletown. We expect to have more group homes, more outpatient

facilities, because of the trend in de-instutionalization."

Mr Bourne said Middletown already carries a large burden because in addition

to CVA the city is also the site of Whiting Forensic Institute, a maximum

security facility for the criminally insane, and the Long Lane School, the

state's only incarceration facility for juvenile offenders.

Mr Bourne said the town's attorney also has filed a motion to attempt to force

the state to provide more information about what its agencies are doing in

their plans to consolidate the mental health hospitals.

"We realize that Middletown is in the center of the state but we want to know

whether the planned consolidation actually will save the state money," he

said. "There are a lot of dilapidated buildings which will require renovation.

And we want to know whether the state sought alternative sites."

The state said it has no plans to do the kind of environmental impact study

requested by Middletown and still expects to close Fairfield Hills by December

15. Robert Taylor, a spokesman for the Department of Mental Health and

Addiction Services which operates the three hospitals, said that the

Department of Environmental Protection is reviewing some concerns raised by

city officials in Middletown but most of their concerns do not fit the scope

of an environmental impact study.