Fairfield Hills, Buy It First

To the Editor:

When it comes to Newtown politics as practiced by our first selectman and his partners in enterprise, the Legislative Council, the latest maneuver over Fairfield Hills is yet another chapter in the book of disregarding the electorate. It is hard to follow the convoluted planning which has guided our legislators to this newest affront to the intelligence of our Newtown residents. They have abandoned the rules of responsible oversight.

Ever since the concept of buying Fairfield Hills even crept into our brains, everyone in Newtown kept asking our First Selectman, Herbert Rosenthal, the same question and have repeated it relentlessly, “Where is the Fairfield Hills master plan?”

Now at the last Legislative Council meeting, our fist selectman trots out the architect of the failed RFP to whip us a fast food, microwaved guesstimate plan and budget at a cost of $21 million. He told the council that we must immediately demolish half of the buildings without a specific economic clue as to why those targeted buildings have been selected. He said that physically, they are functionally obsolete. Yes they are; and so is every other building at Fairfield Hills. With that logic, he should have recommended that we demolish every single building there, large or small.

We are told that the “only” reasonable plan is to give Herb a blank check for $21 million and trust him to do the right thing instead of just allocating the $3.9 million needed for the purchase.

Is there going to be a shortage of money in the bond market that has created this “panic situation” among our legislators? Are they fearful that Newtown’s impeccable bond rating will collapse and we will be unable to ever raise long term debt again?

It’s time to get realistic. We must buy Fairfield Hills and develop a master plan that Ruby Johnson has been advocating for years. Then, let’s take our time to do it right with the support of all the taxpayers in town. If it takes 5, 10 or even 20 years to develop, it will be worth waiting for.

The council was made aware that by pushing for a $21 million bonding, the Fairfield Hills purchase could be defeated by the voters. Mr Richard Nuclo, the State of Connecticut negotiator, said that there was a good chance the state would not give us another chance to buy it. Why did our Legislative Council members vote down a sound proposal by Douglas Brennan to break up the process into phases with the first phase being the purchase of the property?

With the bonding vote for Fairfield Hills scheduled at the same time as the bonding for 5/6 school, our legislators are asking for too much, too fast.

I, for one, would like to have a choice on the referendum between the $21 million the Selectman wants or the $7.9 million that Mr Brennan proposed. If this makes sense to you, the reader, then come to the Town Meeting and ask to amend the choices at the referendum time.

This is not the time to gamble with our future plans for Fairfield Hills. If we lose it, it will be an irreplaceable loss.

Barry J. Piesner

34 Alpine Drive, Sandy Hook                                      May 30, 2001