New Canaan P&Z - Do Not Change Zoning to Destroy Our 1913 Library

Dear Members of the Planning and Zoning Commission;

I write to urge you to deny the application of the New Canaan Library (NCL) to change New Canaan’s zoning regulations by creating a quasi-public Library Overlay Zone. I further urge you to deny the application of the NCL to construct a new library as presently designed and planned.

The NCL is a private organization. It would establish a dangerous precedent to create a special zoning overlay in the business district for a private organization – no matter how worthy the cause. The library is a private entity – despite its call for a “quasi-public” label.

P&Z regulations require that adequate parking be included in all new construction for publicly accessible buildings. As a private entity the NCL must provide new parking spaces. The allocation of 76 parking spaces in the Center School Lot to the library is a travesty. Has the historic parking challenge for New Canaan shoppers, shop and office workers, restaurant patrons, and commuters suddenly disappeared? On this issue alone, P&Z should deny the NCL application.

Preservation of character-defining historic buildings is an important aspect of the New Canaan Plan of Conservation and Development. The NCL plan calls for the demolition of the iconic 1913 Library. This is direct violation of the POCD, and is another basis for denial of the NCL application. The 1913 Library can be preserved and re-purposed as a stand-alone structure at a cost of less than $1 million; and by doing so, preserve the historic, small-town aspect, that the building gives to the intersection of Main and Cherry streets. Illustrations by landscape architect Keith Simpson show that a restored 1913 Library enhances the community value of the proposed “Library Green”.

Finally, The NCL plans include a $15 million loan from Bankwell for the construction of the new library, with the loan secured by the library property. If the NCL were to default on this loan, Bankwell could end up as the owner of the property, and sell it to the highest bidder – likely a condo development company. P&Z must make sure that this never happens by denying the application of the NCL in its entirety.

P&Z should send the plans for the new library back to the drawing boards. This project has become a community monstrosity, developed with an obsession for secrecy; ballooning in cost while at the same time becoming smaller in square footage and eliminating a $10 million underground parking component; potentially costing the Town over $25 million in grants, the cost to replace 76 parking spaces, and bailing out the NCL if it is unable to service the Bankwell debt; and destroying an iconic historic building, loved by so many. New Canaan Town Government has absolute leverage over the New Canaan Library Board as the source for 75% of the annual operating expense of the library, a vital source of funds for construction of the new library, and the as the permitting authority. Let’s use this power to create a new library plan that is a win-win proposition for all community stakeholders.

Respectfully,

Skip Hobbs