Community Corner

Flatto, Marks Not Giving Up on Plan to Save Historic Cottage

First Selectman Says He's Willing to Re-Work Proposed Lease, Will Try to Eliminate Town Funding From Request

First Selectman Ken Flatto said Wednesday that he's not giving up on plans to save a historic cottage from demolition and move it to the Eunice Postol Recreation Center's parking lot where it could be the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce's new home.

The cottage, built in 1840 and now behind Carolton Chronic Convalescent Hospital on Mill Plain Road, has to be disassembled, or demolished, by mid-January so Carolton can move forward with expansion plans. Those expansion plans have been on hold for about six years while town officials and residents tried to find a spot to move the cottage.

"I am interested in trying to continue discussions," Flatto said in the wake of the Board of Finance's rejection Tuesday night of a $20,000 funding request for the project and a $100,000 state grant for the project. "We have a very short window. We would have to come up with a revised proposal by late October, early November."

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"I haven't given up yet, but I really think finance board members questioned and overstated risks I don't believe are significant and failed to acknowledge benefits to the business community and town as a whole. There seems to be more of a tendency at these meetings to get micro-managed to death, more so than has been the norm."

"My hope is, maybe there'll be a chance to revisit this in the near future," Flatto added.

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Flatto said Selectman James Walsh raised a valid concern in questioning whether the proposed lease between the town and Chamber of Commerce, which calls for the Chamber to pay $600 a month in rent to occupy the historic cottage after it's reassembled in the rec center's parking lot, was in violation of the Town Code, which requires the town to rent property at market rates unless the tenant is a charitable organization or veterans' group. The Chamber is a non-profit, but isn't considered a charitable organization.

Flatto, though, said it was difficult to establish a market rate to occupy the cottage since it will be in a parking lot, and he noted that the Chamber was responsible for maintenance and paying utilities. "There is no definition as to what constitutes a 'reasonable rent.' It's my job to determine it," he said.

Flatto said he was going to try to eliminate the $20,000 in funding that would come from the town to help pay the cost of disassembling the cottage and storing it behind Carolton Chronic Convalescent Hospital, since some Board of Finance members didn't like that part of the proposal.

The problem, though, is that Carmen Tortora, who owns the cottage and is an owner of Carolton, said his $20,000 donation toward the project was contingent on the town putting up $20,000. The overall cost to disassemble and store the cottage has been estimated at $45,000.

Melanie Marks, a member of the Gardener's Cottage Committee, which planned to raise money to offset the cost of moving the cottage to the rec center's parking lot, reassembling it on a new foundation, and renovating it for use by the Chamber of Commerce, said the proposed lease seemed to be a big stumbling block for Walsh and Board of Finance members. Walsh abstained from voting on the lease and $20,000 funding request, though he voted in favor of accepting the $100,000 state grant.

"I think there's still got to be dialogue on the language in the lease," Marks said. "I sure as heck would hate to see this money go back to the state because of some little blip in the language in the lease."

Michael Tetreau, a member of the Board of Finance, was concerned that the lease left the town too exposed to risk and unforeseen expenses, which included capital repairs on the cottage.

Marks said she didn't know if Tortora would give $20,000 toward the project without a matching amount from the town. She said if Tortora didn't do that and the state grant wasn't accepted by the Board of Finance and Representative Town Meeting, the project "probably won't go."

"If Carmen will still give us the $20,000, I'm sure I could work with a contractor. I'm sure I could work with him to get it down and stored," Marks said.

Flatto said he thought the best way to proceed was to amend the proposed lease and bring it back to the Board of Selectmen and possibly eliminate the $20,000 funding request from the town. On Tuesday night, Flatto told Mary LeClerc, vice chairman of the Board of Finance, that the selectmen wouldn't revisit the project because they had voted on and disposed of it, but he was open to the idea Wednesday afternoon. "I think the way to do it would be to bring it back to the Board of Selectmen," he said. "My thought is to try to make some changes in the plan."

An alternative idea, Flatto said, would be to send the proposed lease to the RTM to hear its members thoughts, but Flatto said the RTM usually likes to review leases that are in final form. The Board of Finance didn't reject the proposed lease Tuesday night because that board has no jurisdiction over it, though finance board members spent a lot of time reviewing the proposed lease, saying some provisions carried potential expenses by the town.

The overall cost of the project, estimated at $300,000 to $400,000, also was a concern for Board of Finance members. They said they wanted a concrete budget for the project, but Flatto and David Scott, an architect working with the Gardener's Cottage Committee, said that was impossible because the amount of work needed to restore the cottage wasn't known.

Any funding request beyond the $20,000 reviewed Tuesday by the selectmen and Board of Finance would have to be voted on separately by all three town boards that vote on funding requests - the Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance and RTM.

The Gardener's Cottage Committee, which planned to finance the balance of the estimated $300,000 to $400,000 cost through fundraisers and additional grants, can't raise money for the project when town boards haven't approved it, Marks said.

Marks said she doubted anyone would contribute money toward saving the cottage and reopening it for the Chamber of Commerce when the project hasn't been approved by town boards. Even if they did, Marks said she wouldn't want to go through the process of returning contributions if town boards rejected the project.

Marks said she was "put off" by the behavior of four Board of Finance members, whom she said checked e-mail and sent text messages during the presentation by Flatto and members of the Sturges Gardener's Committee. She said their behavior was "disrespectful" and "unprofessional," and, if board members made up their minds before Tuesday night's meeting, they should have pretended to listen.

"I felt very disrespected. I could have been in a closet talking to myself," Marks said.


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