Date: Fri 19-Mar-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

edink-Fairfield-Hills

Full Text:

ED INK: Fairfield Hills: An Informed Decision

With the selection last week of four firms as finalists in the process leading

to the redevelopment of the 186-acre core campus at Fairfield Hills, the

town-state partnership for shaping the future of this key property in the

heart of Newtown entered a critical phase. Over the next three months, a final

decision about development options for Fairfield Hills will be made. From the

town's perspective, the most important decision will be whether to let full

scale development of the property proceed according to the prerogatives of a

private owner, or whether to reserve those prerogatives for the people of

Newtown by purchasing the property with public money.

Fortunately, for now, the best route to either option follows a common path.

Whether Fairfield Hills is given up for private development or reserved for

more public uses, an assessment must be made of the environmental and economic

consequences of the property's transformation. The state says it has

information on the environmental problems at Fairfield Hills that should be

enough to provide at least an inventory of the hazards. It may be necessary,

however, to provide more detailed information to the prospective developers

and the town so accurate cost estimates for environmental clean-ups can be

figured into the eventual purchase price of the property.

The town will also need to calculate its expected revenues and expenses

associated with the full-scale development of the property. It may be that the

large residential component of each of the four finalist plans for private

development of Fairfield Hills may end up costing the town as much or more in

additional demand for public services than it stands to benefit from

additional tax revenues.

By June or July, when the state and town representatives on the Fairfield

Hills Selection Committee have made their final selection of a development

firm, the state will then allow the town to exercise its right of first

refusal on the property. When it comes time for the town to decide whether or

not to buy the 186-acre core campus at Fairfield Hills, it will have to have

some facts in hand. To date, debate about the merits of the public or private

acquisition of Fairfield Hills has had to rely on the vaguest of assumptions

of costs and benefits. If the process is to lead to an intelligent and

informed decision by the town, all assumptions will have to be replaced by

projections based on hard information.

The state-sponsored development selection process may be coming to an end, but

the town still has a lot of work to do to prepare an answer to question we all

know is coming from the state: Does Newtown want to buy Fairfield Hills or

not?