New Bill Takes Aim At Newport Academy Plan For Greenfield Hill

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield legislators have introduced a bill to change the state's definition of what constitutes a group home in a move that directly targets a much-opposed residential medical facility planned for the town's Greenfield Hill neighborhood.

Senate Bill 185 would require that the term "community residence," as it appears in state law Section 8-3e on the treatment of group homes, not include private for-profit medical facilities or facilities required to obtain a certificate of need from the Office of Health Strategy.

"If we wrongly expand the definition of group homes to include these for-profit transitional treatment facilities, we weaken group homes," said state Rep. Brian Farnen, R-District 132, at a news briefing held Feb. 27 in Hartford and recorded by Connecticut Network.

The bill, which is co-sponsored by Farnen and state Sen. Tony Hwang, R-District 28, is being sought after for-profit Newport Academy made plans to use two Fairfield homes as live-in mental health facilities for young adults. The proposal has elicited outcry from neighbors, who are going to court over Zoning Board of Appeals decisions that upheld permits for the project. Residents also intend to pack a state hearing Wednesday on the proposal.

The properties at the center of the conflict are located at 3236 Congress St. and 2495 Redding Road. They were purchased about a year ago for a combined $5.45 million, make up more than 13 acres of land and include wetlands. Newport Academy intends to establish a six-bed, gender-specific facility in each house for adults ages 18 to 26 seeking treatment for primary diagnoses such as depressive or anxiety disorders and secondary issues like eating or substance use disorders.

Community members have raised tens of thousands of dollars to fund their opposition effort and founded a nonprofit called Neighbors for Neighborhood Preservation Inc. The group's president, Meghan McCloat, attended the Feb. 27 state briefing.

"Operating a lucrative rehab center is not the same as protecting where residents of a protected class live," she said.

Hwang said Newport Academy's ability to classify its Greenfield Hill project as a group home is the result of a legal loophole and could preclude "real group homes" from moving into communities.

A Newport Academy spokeswoman said the bill raises concerns under the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and Connecticut's own constitution.

"The proposed bill would erect new barriers and narrow opportunities for people with disabilities to live and draws on unfounded fears and stereotypes about teens and young adults with mental illness," Newport Academy Senior Director of Communications Kristen Hayes said in an email.

Neighbors have focused on Newport Academy's for-profit status and its use of various designations under different agencies. But Hayes said both of these concerns are irrelevant.

"Regardless of how Newport’s programs may be classified for licensure purposes, Newport’s proposed sites in Fairfield are group homes for people with mental illness, that retain their character as single-family residences," she said in the email, in which she also referred to the resident opposition as "NIMBY opponents."

At a Feb. 27 hearing of the Joint Committee on Housing, the bill received testimony both for and against the proposed change, according to state records.

The public hearing for Newport Academy's certificate of need will take place 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Fairfield University Conference Center Dining Room, 200 Barlow Road.