94-Unit Rental Complex 'Totally Inappropriate,' Fairfielders Say

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield residents recently spoke out against a nearly 100-unit affordable housing development planned for Black Rock Turnpike, citing concerns about the project’s size and potential effect on traffic, flooding and the character of the surrounding area.

“They have proposed a building that is too big, it’s in the wrong location, and it will create dangerous traffic conditions,” said Gordon MacKenzie, a resident of the Greenfield Hunt condos, which neighbor the 2.3-acre property located at 4185 Black Rock Turnpike, just off the Merritt Parkway.

MacKenzie and numerous other members of the public addressed the proposal during a hearing Feb. 23 before the Town Plan and Zoning Commission. The proposed complex would include 94 apartments, 29 of which would qualify as affordable housing.

The developer is seeking zoning approval under state law Section 8-30g, which dictates the only way officials could deny the proposal is by proving the project poses a threat to public health, safety or "other matters which the commission may legally consider" that outweigh the need for such housing. The law applies to towns where less than 10 percent of housing stock meets state criteria to be recognized as affordable.

Attorney Peter Haberlandt, of Hartford civil rights organization Open Communities Alliance, spoke in favor of the project and noted only 2.47 percent of Fairfield housing stock is compliant with 8-30g.

“Be mindful of some key legal duties that you have with respect to multifamily housing and affordable housing opportunities,” Haberlandt told the commission. “The TPZ should be welcoming proposals for mixed-income housing in town.”

Steve Ronan, who lives across the street from the site, questioned the appropriateness of the location.

“We’re fairly certain that the intent of the laws is not to put that housing indiscriminately anywhere,” he said, adding developments such as the one proposed appear to be “greed masquerading as social justice.”

The property — adjacent to a Merritt Parkway entrance ramp and neighboring Hotel Hi-Ho, Barcelona Wine Bar and the Wine Zone liquor store — was approved in 2015 to be the site of a medical office building, but an appeals process left that project unable to move forward.

The new plan would include four floors of apartments — two studios, 24 one-bedrooms and 68 two-bedrooms — as well as 139 parking spaces underneath the units and surrounding the building. The structure would be about 70 feet at its tallest point, according to renderings submitted to the commission.

“The issue of public health and safety does outweigh the need for the proposed 29 units,” Fairfield resident Bruce McDonald said. “This building is too large, too high and totally inappropriate for the location.”

McDonald also questioned traffic projections previously presented on behalf of the developer, Fairfield Medical LLC, which indicated the complex would generate 34 vehicle trips during the peak weekday morning traffic hour and 41 trips in the afternoon peak hour. McDonald worried cars would back up on the turnpike and create a hazard for drivers trying to enter Merritt Parkway from the south.

The parkway itself was represented at the hearing, with attorney Joel Green and several others speaking for the Merritt Parkway Conservancy.

“The building as proposed is incompatible with the scale and character of the Merritt Parkway,” said Wes Haynes, executive director of the conservancy, an organization charged with preserving the parkway, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Architect David Parker concurred with Haynes, suggesting changes to the project such as shifting the structure 15 feet north to accommodate an evergreen buffer, moving the tallest portion of the building further from the parkway and using less cacophonous materials than those proposed.

Engineer Steve Trinkaus argued the planned stormwater management system for the complex would rapidly discharge water to a drainage system that would result in the liquid accumulating under the turnpike, which is already prone to flooding. Alexis Harrison, co-president of Fairfielders Protecting Land and Neighborhoods, expressed similar concerns.

The hearing was continued to a future commission meeting, where Green will make his concluding remarks and attorney Peter Alter will deliver a rebuttal on behalf of the developer.