The Legislative Council at its June 17 meeting unanimously approved a lease agreement with Winn Development Company to renovate Shelton House as a mixed use commercial and residential building.

The agreement between the town and the company may eventually extend to include the larger Kent House, depending on the condition of Shelton House once Winn Development has a chance to inspect the building. The lease was previously approved by the Fairfield Hills Commission in April and the Board of Selectmen in May. Winn Development has a past history of renovating public buildings for other uses such as apartments.

With the lease approved, this opens up the building so that Winn can begin inspections. State law would not allow a potential purchaser onto the closed historic properties without a lease agreement. With the agreement in place, Winn can inspect for asbestos and other carcinogens (which are known to be on the property) as well as any structural problems and environmental hazards that may be unknown to the town. If there are unknown environmental hazards like an oil well, as Council Chairman Laura Miller put up as an example, the town would be liable for removal. Either the town or Winn can end the lease agreement at any time if things come up that would make renovations too expensive.

Winn Development will develop the property with the assistance of grants that are now available through historic credits with the property on the National Register of Historic places. The registry is a double-edged sword, because the town is no longer free to demolish the buildings without proving they are significant and immediate dangers for a set period of time.

Once inspections are done, Winn will develop a site plan and go before the Planning & Zoning Commission, where details of the buildings will become public knowledge and the public will have a chance to weigh in on those details.

Once the property has its P&Z approvals, Winn will have five years to close on the property — it will own the building while the town will still own the land. Winn will be responsible for property maintenance and snow removal. The town will receive $500,000 on closing. Then Winn will have three years to complete the project.

This initiative follows extensive public discussion dating back to 2020, when the Town hosted four seminars outlining the benefits of rehabilitating the two buildings rather than demolishing them. At that time, demolition of Shelton and Kent was estimated to cost over $6 million, a figure many residents opposed, and is now likely in excess of $10 million.

That same year, a non-binding advisory question on the referendum ballot showed 55% of voters supported allowing housing on the campus. In response, the Town adopted zoning changes permitting residential use in no more than two buildings at Fairfield Hills.

This cleared the way for a formal Request for Proposals, ultimately leading to the selection of Winn Development, a national developer known for historic restoration projects. Newtown also secured state and federal historic designation for the campus, making the project eligible for historic tax credits and a program involving moderate-income housing credits.

Under the proposal, Shelton House would be converted into approximately 50 one- and two-bedroom, moderate-income apartments, with an age-restriction for residents 55 and older currently "up in the air" and likely to come up when the building reaches Planning & Zoning. The one bedroom apartments will be 600 square feet and the two bedrooms will be 900 square feet. Due to the building’s layout, only a small amount of commercial space is proposed for that property, roughly 1,000 or 2,000 square feet.

"There is no large public area to tie those together in Shelton House, unlike Kent House," said First Selectman Bruce Walczak.

Kent House, the larger of the two structures, would undergo a more extensive renovation.

Plans for that building call for approximately 125 predominantly age-restricted, moderate-income apartments, along with up to 5,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. Because historic preservation rules limit exterior changes, a large interior entrance hall would serve as the main access point for retail and service uses. The lease for that building is expected to come once the Shelton House project is further on.

Residents had a chance to weigh in, expressing concerns on parking, and the lack of committed commercial space in Shelton.

Resident Ann Meyer-Rosa wanted to know how many parking spaces would be available to residents and if it would create parking problems for the Community and Senior Centers.

Resident and Board of Finance member John Fletcher encouraged the council to approve the lease.

"If things don't work now, it may be multiple years before there is a different solution," said Fletcher. "Doing nothing is not an option. This (Winn Development) is a reputable partner with experience in renovating public buildings for other uses. It's doubtful the town will find someone better."

Resident Ned Simpson said he had been involved in the project in various ways since 2018 and was "thrilled" that the project has gotten to where it is. He spoke of the various economic benefits to the town such as taxes, foot traffic on the FFH campus, and additional commercial development.

Resident Dave Ackert expressed concern about the "vagueness" of the commercial development end, saying he is fully supportive of a mixed use building but much less so of a building that is just apartments. Ackert said he did like the idea of redevelopment and not using the town's wild spaces for new developments.

Peter Schwarz, Tony Filiato, and Ross Carley of the Fairfield Hills Authority addressed some of the concerns, particularly parking, saying that the authority has plans to add roughly 200 spots of permeable area parking to the campus, much of which would be between Newtown Youth Authority and the Municipal Center, and some milled parking near NewSylum brewing. The FFH campus is allowed 22 acres of non-permeable (asphalt) parking by the state Department of Transportation and it is already at its limit. The permeable parking will be on pavers with holes in them that will allow grass and other vegetation to grow through, and the milled parking will be asphalt shavings instead of fully paved.

"This isn't being worked on piecemeal, there is a plan for the campus," said Filiato.

It was also noted that the apartments are very small sized and will not be conducive to large families; even the two bedrooms are only planned at 900 square feet. The renovated apartment buildings are not expected to put a large burden on traffic or parking at the campus. Walczak estimated there may be "250ish" spots for Shelton.

The commercial space was limited in Shelton, but when Kent House is discussed there is expected to be much more since that building has a large interior area for the public to congregate and shops to be built around. There will only be one or two thousand square feet of commercial space in Shelton, but 5,000 to 10,000 in Kent. Also, Winn is expected to build generic spaces for properties, but it will be unknown what will go there until further in the process.

Walczak said the town will encourage local business owners to express interest and "line up" for spaces in the buildings to show there is local interest.

"If the demand is there, Winn will make the space available," said Walczak.

After public participation, the council had a chance to weigh in. Councilman Chris Eide expressed concerns that the town was "backing into this" because it owned the buildings, and worried about placing high density housing between a school and Garner Correctional Facility, a prison located on Nunnawauk Road.

"If we had an empty field there, would we be looking to develop high density housing on it?" Eide asked.

Council Chairman Laura Miller said that would be a question for the Planning & Zoning Commission and town residents. Town residents did approve the plan in concept at referendum.

Councilman Ben Ruben noted that if the buildings aren't developed, the taxpayers would be "on the hook" for the cost of demolition, which could be an estimated $65 million for all eight of the buildings that are currently unused, and could grow to more in the future.

Councilman Jordana Bloom said that historic preservation was another aspect, as Winn Development would keep the original building facades.

Councilmen also questioned whether the town may get credit for 8-30g affordable housing at the buildings.

Councilman Eric Paradis said he thought the project was good for the town but did share some of the residents' concerns. However, those concerns were not the purview of the council, only the lease.

Ruben said he was supporting the lease, since it is using a building that is already there and not taking away open space, and the "buildings won't disappear for free."

Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.