NORWALK — Elected officials lent their heft Thursday to keeping a halfway house from opening — under contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons — on Quintard Avenue in South Norwalk.

Mayor Harry W. Rilling expressed support for helping people re-enter society after jail but he labeled 17 Quintard Ave. — where Firetree, Ltd. of Williamsport, Pa., hoped to open the newly renovated house Thursday — as not the right place.

“We support halfway houses, that when somebody’s coming out of prison we want to help them integrate back into mainstream life. That’s a good thing,” Rilling said. “However, there are certain places in the city of Norwalk where you can’t have them, and this is one of them.”

The mayor said the city’s zoning regulations do not allow halfway houses on Quintard Avenue. As such, the Norwalk Building Department would not issue Firetree a certificate of occupancy, he added.

Rilling was among upward of 100 people attending a meeting of the newly formed Quintard Avenue Neighborhood Association at 19 Quintard Ave. on Thursday evening. In the front yard, association leaders collected petition signatures from other residents opposed to the halfway house.

Later, in the backyard, state Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, Common Council members Travis L. Simms, Phaedrel L. Bowman and Richard J. Bonenfant, as well as a representative from Congressman Jim Himes’ office spoke.

Duff wrote to Himes’ office on Tuesday, asking the congressman to urge the Federal Bureau of Prisons to “decline signing a contract with Firetree for this property in Norwalk.”

Himes, who represents Connecticut’s Fourth Congressional District, wrote the bureau on Thursday in a letter shared by his staff person at the neighborhood meeting.

“I am requesting that you take the justified concerns of these residents into account when weighing your decision to contract with Firetree Corporation at this location,” Himes wrote. “Additionally, I ask that you direct your contractor to be more mindful in their communications and dealings with local residents as well as the city of Norwalk.”

Duff said residents supported the facility when Pivot Ministries, a faith-based, nonprofit organization based in Bridgeport, provided drug- and alcohol-rehabilitation services at the address. He described Firetree’s proposed use of the property as different.

“They’re not the same type of use,” Duff said. “There would be 19 ex-prisoners there — we don’t know if they’re violent offenders, nonviolent offenders — and I guess five staff.”

Bowman, who grew up at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Sheridan Street, traced the evaluation of the halfway house plan under Firetree before stating her opposition.

“Just being here and seeing how close the yard is, I definitely understand how you’re feeling,” Bowman said. “My only disappointment is zoning didn’t inform (Firetree) earlier before they put the work into it.”

She said the city might end up having to pay Firetree to resolve the matter.

Greg Ehlers, the Darien Republican running against Duff, also attended the neighborhood meeting and expressed his opposition to Firetree’s plan for the property.

“If you ask anybody here, they’re going to tell you they don’t want this here,” Ehlers said. “If you ask anybody here why, they’re going to have rational reasons for it.”

A representative of Firetree did not respond to a request for comment earlier Thursday.

In July, Firetree President William C. Brown wrote to the city, outlining the proposed halfway house and comparing it to operations under Pivot Ministries.

“Not only will Firetree, Ltd.’s facility at the same address serve to continue Pivot House’s work, but also that facility will not be expanded beyond the scope and size of the halfway house that had been run at that address for decades,” Brown wrote. “Firetree, Ltd. will provide rehabilitation, education and supervisory programs and services for up to 19 residents who are in the process of transitioning from an institutional setting back to their communities.”

According to Firetree, “Norwalk Pavilion Residential Reentry Center” would offer its residents, among other things, life skills classes, client monitoring, case management, chemical dependency education resources, and mental health, legal, religious, vocational and educational services.