Rosenthal Announces Details Of Fairfield Hills Deal

By Steve Bigham

The state and town finally came to an agreement on Fairfield Hills Monday afternoon, agreeing to a sale of the 185-acre campus for $3.9 million “as is.” Under the terms, the Town of Newtown would also receive a firehouse/laundry building, greenhouse and about 4-5 acres across the street on Trades Lane, which were not part of the original offer.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said the final negotiations came together over the last two weeks as talks were accelerated in the hopes of completing the work in time for a June 6 town meeting. It is at that meeting that taxpayers are expected to vote on whether to approve the construction of the 5/6 school and the purchase of Fairfield Hills.

The total Fairfield Hills package – with an estimated cost of $21.7 million – also includes the construction of ball fields, the rebuilding of fields behind the high school, and much-needed code updates and maintenance at Edmond Town Hall. And this week, Mr Rosenthal indicated he would recommend that Shelton House be renovated to house all town offices (see related story).

Also this week, the first selectman recommended that the town go forward with the sale of the town-owned homes on Queen Street.

This week’s deal also “indemnifies” the state from liability for any environmental problems at Fairfield Hills, but Mr Rosenthal says testing on the site has revealed little subsurface contamination there. Just in case, the town will spend $500,000 for environmental insurance.

The buildings contain asbestos and the town will be responsible for all abatement and demolition costs. At a projected cost of $7 million, this work has already been included in the Fairfield Hills package to be voted on in June.

The first selectman said a master plan for the re-use of the property is still down the road, but he believes the town has the kind of information it needs now to go forward. In the meantime, Mr Rosenthal has presented a schedule on how to proceed (see table). In it, he recommends using a phased approach to address the more immediate needs first. After purchase, however, the initial task will be to prepare a master plan, which would be subject to a full review by town boards and a vote at a town meeting.

Legislative Council member Don Studley, who joined the first selectman in the negotiations, said the town is being presented with as much information as there is out there at this time.

“It would be nice to have a complete plan – and to some extent we do have that plan – but there’s no way to possibly go forward if we wait. We can’t put a package together on how we want to use each individual building. The state can not wait for that.”

As part of the agreement, the state will transfer rights for Fairfield Hills Water Company to the town and will purchase water from the town for state needs in the Fairfield Hills area, including Garner Correctional Facility and the Governor’s Horse Guard facility. The town has agreed to preserve the two 500,000-gallon holding tanks to provide fire protection to both state and town property.

The town will also assume responsibility for providing water for town, state and Nunnawauk Meadows Housing for the elderly needs. To do this, the town will enter into an agreement with Pootatuck Fish & Game Club, which owns the wells on the property.

The town received an additional 100,000 gallons per day of sewer capacity, which has a value of about $1 million. Also, Mr Rosenthal said state officials would be willing to negotiate additional sewage capacity for the town in the future.

Mr Rosenthal said eight or nine of the larger buildings on the campus do not seem to have any re-use value. Those buildings, which include Canaan, Kent, Greenwich, Cochran, Fairfield, Litchfield and Bridgewater houses, will probably be demolished.

The balance of the buildings – Stamford, Newtown, Woodbury, Plymouth, Bridgeport, Norwalk, Danbury, Stratford and Shelton halls – as well as a number of single-family houses, will be the focus of an adaptive re-use analysis for town use and compatible economic development uses. The buildings along the entry plaza would likely be used for some economic development activity, such as small professional offices.

Under the terms of the agreement, the town and state have agreed to sign a contract in an “expeditious” manner. Town officials say the state will not likely give the town much time to mull things over. Mr Rosenthal said the state agreed to accelerate the talks last week after being told the town was looking to move ahead quickly in order to present the 5/6 school and Fairfield Hills at the town meeting.

“The state cooperated, but it was based on the fact that we told them we were under the gun, so I don’t think they would appreciate it if we turned around and said ‘thanks a lot for finishing up negotiations, but we’re not ready yet.’”

At the same time, no deadline has been placed on the town. However, a “No” vote at a town meeting/referendum would mean the future of Fairfield Hills will be left up to the state. If that were to happen, there are a couple of different scenarios that could take place, neither of which would be very appealing to Newtown, according to the first selectman.

First, the campus could be sold to a developer, who could cover the landscape with houses, condo and apartments. Second, the state could decide to use the buildings to house substance abuse patients who have been crowding up the state prisons.

If the purchase is approved by the town, the town could possibly become the owner of Fairfield Hills by Christmas.

The $3.9 million price tag reflects the need to address the environmental problems on the property. As Mr Rosenthal points out, the gross value of the property is probably in the area of $15 to $20 million.

The completion of negotiations on the terms and conditions of the sale ends more than a year of talks with the state. In January 2000 the town exercised its right of first refusal on the property. State negotiator Richard Nuclo of the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) and Kevin Dempsey of the Department of Public Works also signed the agreement.

The state had originally offered to sell Fairfield Hills to the town for $5.5 million “as is.”