Neighbors, School Officials Split on Middle School Expansion

Proponents of expanding a middle school in Fairfield on Tuesday night defended their plan against neighbors who cited threats to home values and others reasons to reject it.

An attorney representing Mark Corcoran, whose Fairfield Woods Road property abuts , said his home stood to drop 18 percent in appraised value — from $650,000 to $530,000 — if the estimated $24.2 million expansion went through.

An attorney representing Fairfield's and the project's building committee called Corcoran's impact analysis meaningless, saying the appraiser failed to use comparable house sales.

"He couldn't find any comparables?" the attorney, John Fallon, said during the Plan and Zoning Commission meeting, held at McKinley Elementary School. "Well, he didn't look too far."

Fallon spoke for more than two hours in favor of the expansion, a project that would increase student capacity from 650 to 840 by adding a total of 26,400 square feet on two floors. The renovated building would include:

• 13 new classrooms
• 600-seat auditorium
• new gym
• occupational and physical therapy classroom
• larger kitchen and cafeteria areas

Fallon's presentation included a traffic study expert, a landscape designer, the project's lead architect and construction supervisors.

Other supporters of the expansion cited demographics: The town needs a larger middle school to accommodate its burgeoning elementary school-age population, they said.

Sydney Brooks the middle school's PTSA president, said, "I'd like to speak to equity … has a really nice auditorium and it would be nice for our children to have that kind of space."

Fallon asked the commission to amend part of the town's building regulations and to accept a special application — both technical hurdles to the project.

Specifically, Section 5.2.5 of the town's zoning regulations must be re-worked because the project would mean the expanded building is taking up too much of its lot, as currently defined. The special application pertains to specific proposed additions and alterations.

Several neighbors, including Corcoran's attorney, Heather Brown-Olsen, spoke out against the project.

In addition to the impact on home values, Brown-Olsen cited town plan and development guidelines that seek to decrease — not increase — density in residentially populated regions. She added that the buildings are not in harmony with the neighborhood, with a massive auditorium just 25 feet from Corcoran's property line, hosting events at all hours and leading people to congregate in a parking lot 10 feet from his home.

Neighbors Bernice and Paul Roche of Fairland Drive also pressed the commission to deny the town's applications. They submitted a petition signed by 28 neighbors from 18 homes within the school's vicinity.

Calling the regulation amendment application "spot zoning," Bernice Roche said the so-called "Residential-3 Zone" should be respected. She said that Fairfield Woods Road is essentially a small neighborhood and the school's expansion would affect everyone. Saying many in the neighborhood were unaware of the expansion project and the specifics of the construction were not shared with most neighbors, Roche said, "This secrecy is astonishing to me."