Beach Area Partiers 'Completely Unacceptable,' Fairfield First Selectwoman Says

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield officials answered to beach area residents recently, after college-aged partiers swarmed the neighborhood during Labor Day weekend, drawing a police response.

“I’m very upset that our residents had to be subjected to this behavior,” First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick told over 50 people who attended the Fairfield Beach Residents Association’s annual meeting, held Thursday over Zoom. “What happened on Monday was completely unacceptable.”

Police responded late Sept. 6 to what one frustrated resident referred to as “hordes of drunken students” at Lantern Point, a Fairfield University off-campus living community. The crowd was originally reported to be at least 1,000 people, but Deputy Chief John Bucherati estimated Thursday the number was closer to 500. No citations were issued, but seven vehicles were towed and multiple medical calls were made for intoxication, police said at the time.

Bucherati said Thursday the department didn’t expect the holiday weekend disruption, but that police had met with students and “laid down the law.” The agency plans to deploy more bike patrols in the beach area, and officers with probable cause are encouraged to make arrests in the neighborhood, he said.

“This has been an ongoing situation,” said Kupchick, noting she hoped to see police and university representatives form a group aimed at creating a safe environment for everyone in the beach area.

Karen Donoghue, the school’s vice president of student life, said in a prepared presentation that the Lantern Point Resident Association was, “for reasons outside of their control,” unable to have security the day of the crowding issue, which she cited as a contributing factor to the disruption.

“Any infractions from the event have been sent to the Dean of Students Office,” the presentation said. “Any neighbor complaints have been responded to.”

Donoghue also noted that in recent years, the university has collaborated with residents and town officials in many capacities to keep the area safe, taken over management of student events, paid for a police presence in some cases, developed an online reporting tool for neighbor complaints and scheduled student beach cleanups.