Destroying a Landmark 1913 Library for a "Shrinking" Building?

SHRINKING BUILDING – RISING COSTS

We hear that EVERYONE in New Canaan is excited about the new library and cannot wait to see it built. Apparently, they have not asked everyone because, although I am a long-time user, supporter and even previously a volunteer at our library, I do not fall into that category – sorry. I wonder if you, the reader has been asked. Do you have ALL the info on this project? If not, here is a chronological list:

1. At a Board of Finance meeting on January 14, 2020, the taxpayers were shown a flashy video of the “homage to modern” new New Canaan Library. We were told:
2. So where are we now? Based upon public statements, here is the breakdown.

1. The price tag was $30,000,000
2. The building was to be almost 11,000 square feet larger (49,000 +/- s.f.) than the existing building (39,475 s.f.)
3. The existing building was “crumbling” – the BOF asked for documentation of this assertion. No actual physical conditions assessment of the building by qualified professionals was ever presented to the public by the Library.
4. The Library’s architects were unable to incorporate the original 1913 building into the new design. No documentation of this struggle was ever produced.
5. The Library was asking New Canaan taxpayers for ONLY $10,000,000, doubling an initial $5,000.000 ask.
6. Parking was not addressed although the video clearly showed parking underneath the building.
7. No actual plans nor itemized budget was presented although the Library was asked for a detailed budget breakdown.
8. The Library had raised $15,000,000 in pledges and donations.
9. When asked by the BOF if the Town could be given the proposed “Green” in exchange for its $10,000,000 contribution of taxpayer money, the Library responded that it would probably not be willing to do so.

1. Over the course of the year, the price tag for the new library building went up from $30,000,000 to $38,000,000 (per current draft MOU).
2. During the same year, the size of the new library building shrank from the original 49,000 +/- s.f. down to 40,461 square feet, less than 1000 square feet larger than the existing building, but the price has gone up.
3. The Library has raised $16,000,000 in pledges and donations (similar figure to one year ago – per current draft MOU).
4. The Town recently made public a Draft Memorandum of Understanding detailing the arrangement between the Town and the Library. In this MOU, the following four items were deemed the “Basic Elements of the Building Project” (With the exception of inclusion of the “resolution of …. the 1913 building”, these are all offerings initiated by the Library, not requests put forth by the Town):
5. The Library, after 8 or 9 attempts at providing parking on their site announced that their architects could not come up with a way to provide parking for the new building on site. So, our Parking Commission gave the Library 76 parking spaces in the Center School Lot, based on the current number of spaces at the library, not on the promised increased programming of the new library building. This means everyone including the handicapped and families with small children, will park in a pay lot and cross Maple Street to go to the library. In spite of the reduction in expense of constructing underground parking (estimated around $9,000,000 +/-), reduction in size, and this additional parking offer from the Town, there was no reduction in the ask from the taxpayers toward the new library project.

• i. A modern building
• ii. Meet LEED standards
• iii. Adequate parking
• iv. A Green Space – subject to the resolution of the 1913 building.

Why am I, one who professes to value and support our town library, putting forth this information. Because I am a taxpayer, a voter and a rule follower. It is up to citizens, taxpayers and voters to PAY ATTENTION and ASK QUESTIONS.

Here are a few questions each citizen, taxpayer and voter need to ask themselves and our town leadership – those we elected to represent us, to appoint commission and board members, and to make sure our tax dollars are appropriately allocated:

1. Why, if the library project has decreased in size and no longer accommodates parking, has the cost gone up from the initial $30,000,000 presented last year. to $38,000.000?
2. What promised amenities, such as on-site parking, have been removed from the now reduced new building?
3. How is our town and the library funding this project? Will the stated cost to the taxpayer be only $10,000,000 in the end?
4. Is it ok for a new building to not provide parking on site, including for handicapped and families with small children?
5. Why did the Library not maintain its building to the supposed point of no return? Where is the documentation supporting this premise and specifically the estimated cost to repair these deficiencies as requested by the BOF in January of 2020?
6. Why for over a year has the public never seen actual developed plans or a detailed budget for the new project. Why has the architect never made a presentation and appeared to answer questions – an architect that could not figure out how to incorporate a landmark building nor provide on-site parking for a new building?
7. Who is in the driver’s seat? Is it the Library? Is it our elected and appointed officials? Is it us, the citizens, taxpayers and voters who will be contributing at least a third of the initially stated cost of this project?
8. Why is the Library and the Town so insistent on rushing this approval through when the Library just submitted their plans to the Building Department for review?

If the new building is less than 1000 square feet larger than the existing, and the library truly needs more space for programming and community services, couldn’t an addition have been built to accommodate these needs for the $16,000.000 that the Library has raised? For that amount of money, they could have repaired their existing building and the addition could have been located at the honorific corner of South and Maple. It could even have been the flashy modern “Glass Box” that supposedly everyone craves. Existing library parking could be accommodated on site as it is now. I’ll bet even the Library’s architects could have figured that one out.

Rose Scott Long Rothbart