More than 100 Ridgefielders cast paper ballots Wednesday night, June 10, voting 93 to 23 to approve a lease that will allow Ability Beyond to build a group home for six disabled people on Prospect Ridge. —Macklin Reid photo
My son is autistic… My daughter has been happy… I taught special needs kids…
Quiet voices told moving stories, sent a message of inclusion and won the vote, as a June 10 town meeting approved plans to help the organization Ability Beyond build a group home for the disabled on town land.
“We have an 18-year-old son,” said Cathleen Sulli of Highview Drive.
A disability hasn’t prevented him from making friends.
“No offense to you,” she said to First Selectman Rudy Marconi, “but he’s the mayor. When we walk down the street, everyone says hi.”
“I’m blessed — I taught special needs kids at the high school,” said Guido Maiolo, the former Ridgefield High School football coach and longtime teacher.
“Go down to the Prospector Theater and see these kids,” he said. “It’s amazing to see how they’ve adjusted to life.”
“My son lived with Ability Beyond for 20 years. He unfortunately passed away last year,” said Inge Sands of Lakeview Drive.
“If it weren’t for Ability Beyond Disability, he would have had a dismal life,” she said.
“He had a happy and full life.”
“My son is 22 and autistic,” said John Richards of East Farm Lane. “He lives in a group home in Prospect.”
The distance from Ridgefield to Prospect makes is difficult to see him as much as the family would like.
“It would be wonderful for us — or people like us — to have our children closer to us,” Richards said.
He described how, when the family moved back to the U.S. after living for a time in Japan, there was a big turnout of neighbors to say good-bye to the then 10-year-old autistic boy.
“There was weeping and crying and hugging,” Richards said.
“He had touched the lives of people.”
The vote at the June 10 town meeting was 93 to 23, with one abstention, in favor of the selectmen’s proposal to give Ability Beyond a $1-a-year 50-year renewable lease on a half acre off Prospect Ridge, between Halpin Lane and the Quail Ridge condominiums.
If the Bethel-based organization serving the disabled does build on the site, it would be the third group home for the disabled in Ridgefield. Ability Beyond already has a home on Ritch Drive, and there is also Sunrise Cottage, a group home on Sunset Lane.
The selectmen had backed the plan unanimously.
Ability organization
“Our mission is very simple,” Tom Fanning, the president of Ability Beyond, told the town meeting.
“People with disabilities belong with us in our communities.”
Disabled citizens should have “every possibility to participate” in life, and the communities they live in, that other residents do.
“We’re a not-for-profit organization primarily funded by Medicare and Medicaid,” Fanning said.
“We serve through the course of a year about 3,000 people. About 500 of those live within a facility.”
The “gallery of homes” on the organization’s website shows 21 group homes in Connecticut and four in New York state.
In addition to housing, the organization provides employment resources, residential support, transportation.
“We serve 30 to 40 people from the Town of Ridgefield,” he said.
The plan for the site at the corner of Prospect Ridge Road and Haplin Lane is for a group home that would be staffed 24 hours a day
“Our hope here is to develop a small house for six individuals with disabilities,” Fanning said.
Most likely, the residents would be middle aged or older folks with “ambulation issues,” he said.
“People with disabilities are living longer than ever before,” he said. “We’ll need an inventory of houses capable of supporting people throughout their life span.”
The lease was approved by the June 10 town meeting after a public hearing at which 12 people spoke — nine of them in favor of the lease. Several speakers offered moving testimonials about Ability Beyond’s work to improve the lives of the disabled — and the ways people with disabilities contribute to the communities that accept them.
Mild opposition
Even people opposed to the lease — three spoke against it — said they supported Ability Beyond and the idea of a group home in town. The concerns expressed were mostly due the loss of some trees on the site just south of the Quail Ridge I condominiums.
“I have faith in our community. We all want the same thing,” said Quail Ridge resident Bev Barnard. “We all want Ability Beyond to have another group home in our town…
“We all want to preserve the trees and green spaces,” she said.
“There is no reason to argue with each other.”
But Barnard said the half-acre where Ability Beyond hopes to build is the last patch of woods on the north end of Prospect Ridge Road.
“It’s a noise buffer from traffic and sports activity. It’s acts as buffer for the bright baseball lights,” she said.
The town and Ability Beyond could surely work together to find another site for a group home, she thought.
“The trees have no other options,” she said. “They can’t wait to find another piece of land.”
“We have two different camps,” said Laurie Baldwin of Prospect Ridge. “We haven’t even asked the question: What other land is available?”
“Nobody is opposed to Ability Beyond Ability,” said Craig Borders of Prospect Ridge.
“Our concern, those of us in the Quail Ridge neighborhood, is the urbanization of our neighborhood,” he said.
“Just let us keep one small piece of land as open space and a buffer.”
Rich Kalriess of Peaceable Ridge Road disagreed.
“The exposure of this property to Quail Ridge is very small,” he said. “…The view from Quail Ridge of this piece of property is very low impact.”
Supporters
Some people spoke not as neighbors or family members, but simply as townspeople who wanted to support the construction of more housing for the disabled.
“These are people who contribute to our town,” said Helen Dimos of North Street.
Sally Boehle of Deer Hill Drive said she’d taught students with disabilities at Ridgefield High School, and favored helping establish another group home.
“This sounds great,” she said.
Sabina Slavin said she was moving from another part of town to Prospect Street, and supported a group home there.
“This is a terrific location,” she said, “and I think we should go ahead with this.”
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