It’s Time To Change Course On A New Town Hall

To the Editor:

It has been a couple of years since my last “Letter to the Editor” regarding the Fairfield Hills Master Plan. After the town made it clear a few years ago that it would not honor its commitment that the Master Plan for Fairfield Hills would be determined by public vote, I became resigned to the notion that some mistakes and bad decisions just need to run their course. The town’s plan for a new town hall is one of those bad decisions and the sooner we change course, the better.

Even before the back-to-back defeats of Newtown’s budget, it was clear that any plan to build a new town hall at Fairfield Hills could not be realized. For one thing, taxpayers will not approve additional funding for the project anytime this decade. This is because when the public voted in 2001 to borrow $21 million dollars to fund the purchase and initial development of the Fairfield Hills campus, a new town hall was not part of the vision. In fact, the approval included funds to repair and spruce up Edmond Town Hall, a project that has brought the building up to code and is just about complete.

 Since 2001, four townwide surveys on how to proceed with the Fairfield Hills project were conducted and every survey pointed to the need for community spaces, recreational facilities, space set aside for our schools and options for some commercial development to help support our tax base.

 So when the concept of building a new town hall appeared in the proposed master plan, the public promptly voted against it. That’s when the selectmen decided that the taxpayers would not be given the chance to vote on the plan a second time. Soon after, at the behest of town officials and without any concern for public opinion, state lawmakers authorized the creation of The Fairfield Hills Authority, which basically allows the town to do what it wants and prevents the public from participating any further.

Somehow, over the past year, the planning and bidding process for a new Town Hall has become the authority’s number one priority, even leap-frogging projects that are becoming more critical every day. This is a project that is wasting valuable time, energy and funds without any near-term benefit to any part of our community.

To make a long story short, unless the new town hall will include 50 new classrooms, a community center, a pool, a senior center, and can somehow generate activity that will grow our tax base, it’s time to change course.

Kevin Fitzgerald

24 Old Farm Hill Road, Newtown                                May 22, 2006