Greenfield Hill Neighbors Oppose Mental Health Facilities Plan

FAIRFIELD, CT — When two houses in Greenfield Hill sold last winter, neighbors waiting for the new owners to move in were surprised to learn that a company had purchased the homes with the intent of turning them into residential mental health facilities.

In recent months, residents' concerns about the proposal have grown. What started as a conversation among neighbors has turned into Neighbors for Neighborhood Preservation Inc., a nonprofit with a website and a GoFundMe campaign that has generated more than $25,000 in donations.

Residents are opposed to a plan for Newport Academy to open two for-profit facilities — one for men and one for women — that would serve young adults between ages 18 and 26 seeking mental health treatment. Each house would have six beds and offer a wide range of patient programming.

"We're not anti-rehab," said Justin Spencer, a representative of the concerned neighbors.

Rather, Spencer said, community members are worried about a business operating in a residential neighborhood. Other issues raised by residents include the possibility that the project could set a precedent for similar developments, reports of increased crime in Bethlehem because of a larger Newport Academy facility in that town and Newport Academy's connection to the private equity firm The Carlyle Group. Neighbors for Neighborhood Preservation Inc. has hired an attorney to assist in its opposition to the project.

The properties at 3236 Congress St. and 2495 Redding Road make up more than 13 acres of land, according to Fairfield Planning Director Jim Wendt, and they include wetlands. The sites were purchased in early January for a combined $5.45 million, according to town property records.

Newport Academy is in the process of getting a certificate of need for the facilities from the state. Among the documents associated with the application are more than 100 pages of public response to the proposal, the majority of which are from people against the project or seeking further discussion or information about it.

The development has received a building permit from the Town of Fairfield for interior modification, Wendt said, although neighbors have requested an appeal for the permit. Zoning regulations dictate that hospitals and nursing homes can't receive a building permit without a certificate of need from the state, but Newport Academy has applied for state licensing as a mental health residential living center, so the rule does not apply. The permit appeal will be considered Aug. 15.

Newport Academy offers patients a home-like setting where they have access to therapy, academic tutoring and fitness activities, according to spokeswoman Kristen Hayes, who said the Fairfield facilities will open once the necessary certification processes are complete.

"For far too many families, access to quality mental health care is still challenging," Hayes stated in an email. "Newport is seeking to meet that need by bringing new access to a high quality group home, building on the services already provided in other communities across the state."

A Newport Academy school in Bethlehem with more than 50 students is responsible for 20 percent of emergency calls in the area, according to a 2018 report from WFSB Eyewitness News 3. Four of seven seats on Newport Academy's Board of Directors are held by people connected to The Carlyle Group, a private-equity firm that was the subject of a 2018 Washington Post investigation, according to a document provided by Neighbors for Neighborhood Preservation Inc. The Post revealed that a nursing home chain owned by The Carlyle Group saw a 26% spike in health-code violations between 2013 and 2017, including increased citations for bed sores and medication errors.

In response to questions about how Newport Academy's connection to The Carlyle Group might affect operations at the Fairfield facilities, Hayes stated that Newport Academy focuses evidence-based treatment and monitors 15 treatment goals. She also stated that 96% of patient families said they would recommend Newport Academy when surveyed at discharge.

"We are grateful for the Fairfield residents who understand and support our desire to be a positive member of this great community and look forward to continuing to serve the area’s pressing mental health care needs," Hayes stated in a previous email.

Residents said Newport Academy has been largely unresponsive to communications from the neighborhood's Representative Town Meeting member. Two hundred lawn signs opposing the proposal have been distributed to residents, and there is a waiting list for more.