NIMBY has been Misused

When the town of Fairfield or an organization operating in town proposes something new that may alter a way of life, there has been a knee-jerk reaction immediately in opposition. We've referred to this as NIMBY – Not in my Backyard – and it's far from unique to Fairfield. It happens on the state and national level with amazing regularity.

Interestingly, the term has only been around for 20 years, coined by Nicholas Ridley, a Conservative British politician. It was so spot on, that it quickly crossed the Atlantic and became part of the American lexicon.

The latest example has been the current storm brewing as residents from Hoyden's Hill rose up in unified protest against the Parsells property being turned over from Conservation to Parks & Rec and then watched in horror as the Representative Town Meeting permanently ruined their way of life by approving bonding to rehabilitate the land and use it for, among other things, a girls' softball field.

Throughout the lengthy debate in June, more than one speaker pointed out that the arguments made about the Parsells land were almost identical to the neighborhood opposition several years ago when playing fields were proposed for Dwight School. As Bryan LeClerc, who served on the RTM at the time, noted, there was quite the outcry over traffic, noise, light pollution, etc. before the first ball was put in play. However, once the field was put into use, he never heard a single complaint.

No doubt the same will be said in a few years about the playing fields on Hoyden's Lane.

In some ways, NIMBY is at its worst when it's needed the most, which is one reason anytime the Board of Education even thinks about the overdue redistricting, the parents come out in droves. Sure we need to rebalance the school populations, they cry, but just don't divide my neighborhood.  That hue and cry cranked up when the BOE reviewed feeder plans for the middle schools on Tuesday night.

In the last decade there was the YMCA wanting to expand and add a second pool, addressing a long bubbling need in this town. The neighbors shouted it down. Many of those same neighbors also rose up in opposition to Applebee's renting space in the shopping center where Bob's Stores now sits. You would have thought the family restaurant was really a biker bar where drunken brawls would spill onto Old Post Road at 2 in the morning the way some people described it.

The Gould Manor Neighborhood Association, a quasi-organization if ever I saw one, was quite vocal in its opposition to the town's plans to turn the 5-acre Turner Army Center into anything but passive space. You would have thought the notion of using the property for the much-needed town swimming pool would have resulted in frogs, boils, and pestilence descending from the heavens. When it was rejected and active recreation was approved as a potential basketball court and similar activities, they still weren't satisfied, ludicrously hoping the RTM would approve a park, adjacent to Gould Manor Park.

Not all neighborhood associations are misguided. When the residents in District 2 spoke out against the mammoth expansion proposed for Black Rock Congregational Church, they had legitimate concerns that the already congested Black Rock Turnpike would be paralyzed, especially on Sunday mornings. The Inland Wetlands Commission rejected the expansion before the neighbors' concerns over traffic, being out of harmony with the neighborhood, etc. could be heard. Years later, after facing similar opposition elsewhere, BRCC returned to town with a more manageable plan that is awaiting review by the Town Plan and Zoning Commission.

Over in District 6, Stratfield's neighborhood association has correctly objected to Walgreen's taking over the space historically used by a small local grocery store. What Walgreen's sold was not in the area's best interests and was actually in violation of zoning issues. With a growing senior population over there, they need a place to walk for milk and necessities, and the drug store chain was essentially deaf to the concerns. Thankfully, they're not likely to move in and eventually the space may be well used.

Well run, well organized neighborhood associations create a structure where residents can learn the issues and form an educated response to changes proposed for their part of town. Not every association is well managed and we have pockets of town without any such organization helping look after their immediate interests.

Such a neighborhood association could have prevented the Hoyden's Hill rabble, led by Kirk Manley. From his first missive through their impassioned and misguided speeches at the June 28 RTM meeting, they did not present a compelling enough case nor did they have facts to refute the findings of the town's Conservation Department. They were especially tone-deaf to the words they chose, angering most residents with trying to depict the softball players as a special interest or a private club.

The girls' softball field now faces what likely will be a final public hearing before the Town Plan and Zoning Commission on Oct. 12 after the commission's first hearing was adjourned at its 11 p.m. curfew.

The lesson to take away from this recent debate is that educated, organized opposition that can temper its emotions will most likely get a fair hearing. The town bodies have grown very weary of the NIMBY issue, often tuning out the complaints because they appear reactionary. Homework has to be done and rational, dispassionate arguments be made with facts and figures. As Chris DeWitt, a member of the Board of Finance commented in June, where were the citizens when his board met to vote on the field funding? If there's opposition, it should be made to all the bodies that decide the issue, not just the final organization, which puts unnecessary pressure on them.

Used judiciously, NIMBY can, and does, make sense. Our fellow citizens just use it far too freely, blunting its impact.