Housing At Fairfield Hills Revisited

To the Editor:

At their February 17 meeting, the selectmen voted to demolish ten buildings at Fairfield Hills but agreed to postpone the demolition of the eight single-family homes, citing the need for affordable housing in Newtown.

In two surveys that Friends of Fairfield Hills conducted (June 1999 and February 2000), “housing” was next to last among six preferred uses of FFH. It ranked only slightly above the lowest scoring “business and economic development” category. The October 2003 survey taken by HMA Consultants placed housing last among eight categories; however, if the selectmen do reconsider housing at FFH, what process could they use to permit housing? They might:

Arrange to sell the single-family homes. Step A. Request that Planning and Zoning rezone FFH for single-family homes (one-half, one, or two acres). Step B. Survey and cut off enough land to go with the existing homes. Step C. Sell to a contractor to renovate and resell, or auction “as is” to highest bidder and/or permit only town employees to bid (if legal). Should the town decide not to sell the land, would they give a 99-year land lease to the buyers?

Follow the early plan suggested to the FFH Master Plan Committee by the consulting firm Harrall-Michalowski Associates (HMA). Demolish the existing homes. Permit a contractor to build condos in this area of the West Meadow. The selectmen will have to decide whether to sell or lease the land (25, 50, or 99 years).

The Duplexes: During one of the citizen meetings (charette) conducted last year, the idea was expressed that one or two duplexes might be valuable to house a buildings and grounds supervisor and maintenance and/or security personnel to provide 24-hour coverage. Would the town renovate the duplexes? Leased? Sold?

The houses on the west side of Mile Hill South are not part of the original purchase agreement with the state, but the state now plans to deed this property to the town at no additional cost. Should the town sell these homes “as is” or demolish and use the land in another way?

Other ways?

At their March 1 meeting, the selectmen listened to a representative from the University of Connecticut explain the process for conducting a poll to determine citizen opinions on topics concerning Fairfield Hills. If housing at FFH is to be part of the UConn poll, citizens will need to have the selectmen explain in more detail how they would go about using the single-family homes in the core campus as affordable housing before UConn conducts the FFH poll. Hopefully, the selectmen will share their plans with the public.

Ruby Johnson

for Friends of Fairfield Hills

16 Chestnut Hill Road, Sandy Hook                            March 3, 2004