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9/30/25
Dear Members of the Town Plan & Zoning Commission,
We urge you to vote "NO" on adopting the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) tonight. You cannot, in good faith, approve a plan built on a foundation of lies that poses a direct threat to the health, safety, and financial future of our town. Our request is simple: Just Wait until you can answer the following fundamental questions.
The Maps Are Wrong. The entire POCD is based on flawed data. The state's own "Future Use Framework" map is a fantasy that redefines Fairfield as an "Urban Core" and claims our open space is in Easton. The flood zone maps are a "dangerous fiction" from 2015, ignoring 11 straight years of rising seas. Even the historic Black Rock neighborhood has been literally erased and replaced with a fake "Commerce Drive" district to justify a developer-first agenda. How can you adopt a plan based on maps that are demonstrably false?
You Are Committing Willful Negligence by Approving Uninsurable Projects. Any vote to approve projects based on these dangerously outdated flood maps is an act of gross negligence. With FEMA no longer underwriting storm damage in the same way, and with no reputable private insurer writing policies for major construction in these real-world flood zones, you are exposing Fairfield to catastrophic, unfunded liability. We insist that before any project moves forward, you require developers to provide legally binding proof of full private insurance that covers all climate-related risks.
This Plan Betrays Fairfield's History; We Have Recovered the REAL Town Plans. You have been presented with five authentic, internally-written Town Plans from 1947, 1948, 1960, 1976, and 1979. These plans, from our "village elders," mandate conservation over buildings. Starting in 2000, state-issued vendors buried these authentic plans to push a pro-developer agenda that is 180 degrees opposite of Fairfield's values. It is your duty to honor our town's true history, not a vendor's dystopian roadmap.
Stop Catering to "Dark Money" LLCs and Demand Transparency. This plan facilitates development by anonymous "dark money" LLCs, and we have a right to know who is doing business in our town. We demand full disclosure of all principals, officers, and financial backers before any project is even considered. With the U.S. government suspending enforcement against cloaked ownership, it is your absolute responsibility to protect Fairfield from bad actors who now see Connecticut as "open for business".
Reject "Affordable Housing" in Favor of the American Dream of Home Ownership. This POCD is a roadmap to turn residents into renters, constantly promoting "affordable housing". Renting offers a lower quality of life and is a threat to the health and safety of occupants. We have a plan for guaranteed "Affordable Homes" that provides a path to ownership for our children, seniors, and local workers—the true DNA of Fairfield.
Restore Our Neighborhoods and End the Fake "Commerce Drive" District. Your own maps show the erasure of the historic Black Rock neighborhood to invent a "Commerce Drive" district. This was done to justify a backroom deal for the train station and is the mustard seed of our overdevelopment problems. We demand the restoration of Fairfield's true neighborhoods—all 24+ of them—and an end to the state-gerrymandered districts designed to dilute residents' power.
Embrace a Better Vision: The People's Plan for Fairfield. We are not just opposing your plan; we are proposing a better one grounded in Fairfield's values. Our plan includes creating a Fairfield Beaches National Park, reopening Oldfield Park, restoring thousands of acres of open space, and rolling back zoning to 2.5-story buildings. This is the "Utopia" Fairfielders want, not the "Dystopia" of concrete being pushed from Hartford.
Honor the Vision of the Late Bill Gerber. This entire process betrays the final mandate of First Selectman Bill Gerber, who courageously called for a Town Manager system to fix our broken governance and championed "affordable homes," not rental housing. He led the defeat of HB 5002 in the legislature, which was a victory no less than the minutemen defeating the mighty British army. We are obligated to fulfill the vision of the leader the people of Fairfield elected.
You Are Rushing a Flawed and Illegitimate Process. Public input has been systematically ignored. You are rushing this vote before the November election, even though the legal deadline is not until November 2026. This is the culmination of a 50-year, state-led strategy to dismantle local control, funneled through Bridgeport for the benefit of the construction industry.
We Will Not Stop. We Will Work Until Election Day to Fix This. This is not a one-night issue. We will work until Election Day to ensure Fairfield adopts a plan that reflects the will of its 60,000 residents. We will be calling for a town-wide, non-binding referendum on these issues to give every resident a voice. The fight for Fairfield's future starts now. Just wait. And for adopting the POCD as-is, please just wait and let’s do it right. Your friend and neighbor,Matthew Hallock
7/30 publication: A Mandate to Fulfill Bill Gerber's Vision
An Open Letter to the Leaders and Residents of Fairfield
Tonight, the Charter Revision Commission (CRC) will hold a "special meeting." A look at their agenda reveals that they seek Board of Selectpeople approval of their "final" charter revision before hearing public comment. This comes on the heels of them already filing their report with the Town Clerk. This is all to fulfill a requirement sold as progressive public service.
These are not procedural errors; they are deliberate acts of a system designed to silence you. It is an insult to our democracy and a betrayal of the late First Selectman Bill Gerber's final vision. It is the culmination of a 50-year process, driven by the state and its pro-developer allies, to dismantle local control in our town. This document is our response. It is our audit, our indictment, and our insistence that we, the people, re-commission a new Charter Revision Commission to do the job right.
This charter is the result of a deliberate, state-led strategy to impose a developer-first agenda on our town, funneled through the Hartford-centric construction industry.
They Buried Our History: The citizen-led town plans of the 1970s, which championed environmental protection, were deliberately buried. In their place, we got a 2000 POCD written by the Bridgeport Regional Business Council—a plan that a town official admitted at the time was "not very good."
They Falsified Our Reality: They eliminated the historic neighborhood of Black Rock to create a fake "Commerce Drive" district to justify the new train station—the mustard seed of our overdevelopment problems.
They Ignored Our Voices: They took page after page of detailed input from the public, from town department heads, from Board of Education leaders and most importantly, from Bill Gerber himself. They ignored all of it and produced a cryptic two-page summary that addresses nothing of substance. Putting public input after the reports have been filed is a clear misinterpretation of the law and a profound disrespect for the town’s constituency.
They Ignored our Leader's Charge: In his final weeks, Bill Gerber made his powerful case for a new Town Manager system with Town Services supplied by empowering Fairfield’s 24+ neighborhoods. They hoped you would never see his final instructions for how to fix our town.
A Charter Written for Insiders, Not Residents
This failed process has produced a flawed document. JUST FOR INSTANCE:
It removes the residency requirement for the Town Attorney, a change that directly benefits the out-of-town lawyers who advised the commission. Yet the charter retains the requirement to have a town attorney and assistant attorney on staff. So we ignore our own rule to hire a who-knows-where vendor, who then eliminates the residency requirement. How does that benefit the town?
It extends the residency requirement for Police and Fire Chiefs to 35 miles, a specific change made with no public justification. Who told the CRC to do that?
The Mandate: We Must Fulfill Bill Gerber's Vision
Bill Gerber was elected by the people. We are now duty-bound to fulfill the vision he laid out. He saw the system was broken and had the courage to say so. He called for a new Town Manager system. He championed affordable homes, not just rental "housing." He knew we needed to empower our neighborhoods with real authority.
We cannot allow his vision to be buried along with the tape of his testimony.
We, the people, insist that the Board of Selectpersons Re-commission the Charter Revision Commission. We demand a new, transparent, citizen-led process that will build a charter for Fairfield's future, not one that protects the failures of the past. A charter that is written by us.
Thank you to my friends and neighbors,
Matthew Hallock, Fairfield, CT
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