NewCanaanite.com recently received the following letter. Send letters to editor@newcanaanite.com to have them published here.
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To the Editor of the New Canaanite,
I am writing this letter to the editor as a concerned New Canaan resident and not in my position as a member of the Waveny Life Care Network board.
I respect the free-speech rights of the opponents of building a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) for senior citizens on the site of the Town’s mulch pile known as Parcel E across the street from the main campus of Waveny Park. What is upsetting is their use of fake imagery and the mischaracterization of the proposed project as condominiums in the circulars the group is circulating throughout our community.
Regarding the image, the group has superimposed a picture of a 7-9 story high rise building behind Waveny’s architect’s design of the building as presented at the Town Council Meeting. Waveny’s plan, if approved, is for a three-story main building pictured here with two two-story wings:
Rendering of Waveny Senior Living Village. Image courtesy of WLN
The unnamed opponents also characterize the CCRC proposal as a “condo” development. This is not a condominium complex. This is a Life Plan Community, which is a residential campus that will provide senior care in one location for both New Canaan’s senior citizens and those of the surrounding communities.
Yes, the unnamed opponents have the right to express their opinions. Just please do it without using fear tactics, fake images, and emotionally charged language.
Thomas Berardino
And who are you and your cohorts to try and rob our park land ignoring the deed restrictions. Holding secret meetings with town insider past and present politicians. Elected officials also sitting on your board. Call it what it is : Disgusing your “For Profit Venture “ as a care facility.
Asking for a MOU from the town council before public input after secretive closed meetings.
Tried and rejected 2x. Stop wasting the towns resources and money. Leave our parkland alone and respect the restricted endowment.
Your Board and you are using no truth and fear tactics. Not we the majority of new Canaanites.
Mr. Berardino asks residents to “stick to the facts.” I agree.
Here they are.
1. This converts a public asset into a private, for-profit enterprise. Parcel E is public open space — a resource that is shrinking, not growing, in New Canaan. Leasing it for a commercial senior-living development operated for profit is a fundamental change in the character and use of that land, not a minor adjustment. This is a taking of public land for private, commercial use.
2. The proposal appears to trigger Connecticut’s park land replacement law. Under Connecticut General Statutes § 7-131n, a municipality that converts land acquired or dedicated for park, recreational, or open-space use to a non-park, non-open-space use must provide substitute land of equivalent value for the same purpose. Changing the “use” of Parcel E from open space to a commercial care facility triggers this requirement. To date, no substitute parkland has been identified or proposed. This is illegal.
3. The proposal appears to conflict with the 1967 Lapham Lloyd deed. Every parcel of the original Lapham Lloyd gift except Parcel A — Parcels B, C, D, and E — carries the same restrictive language limiting use of the land. Parcel C alone contains additional language authorizing the Town to “explore and develop uses for Parcel C,” including potential use as a site for public health, medical research, or hospital facilities — which is why Parcel C today hosts the Waveny Care Center and New Canaan High School. Mrs. Lloyd was specific and deliberate about that exception. Its existence makes clear that she intended narrower, more limited uses for Parcels B, D, and E. The Parcel E deed was examined in 2009, and her original intent was upheld at that time. Reopening that question now, to permit a use she did not authorize, dishonors her gift. This is a violation of the Lapham Lloyd deed.
4. This is not a condominium — but it is not a modest senior-living project either. Mr. Berardino is correct that this is not a condominium complex; residents would not own their units. It is a fee-based Life Plan Community, in which Waveny LifeCare Network would own the real estate and charge residents a one-time entrance fee of roughly $1.5 to $2.5 million, plus a monthly fee of $7,000 to $11,000. The site plan presented to the Town Council depicts a roughly 300,000-square-foot commercial facility with 200 underground parking spaces, including structures overlooking the Merritt Parkway. Underground parking of that scale requires excavating an estimated 55,000 cubic yards of earth — approximately 4,000 dump-truck loads — and roughly two acres of underground footprint per level. Parcel E contains significant wetlands connected to the Noroton River, and construction of this scope would require substantial tree clearing. This is a large commercial facility with a major environmental footprint, not a modest senior residence.
5. Alternative sites exist and have not been publicly ruled out. Waveny LifeCare Network already holds a permitted parcel within Waveny (the Parcel C footprint) and purchased additional land on Oenoke Ridge in 2021. Comparable parcels have also recently changed hands elsewhere in the region — for example, a 21-acre site in Stamford (Mosaic) for $21 million and a 51-acre property in Wilton (the Clark property) for $25 million. WLN has demonstrated it is capable of purchasing land for its own development. That raises a fair question: why should New Canaan taxpayers subsidize a private commercial enterprise through a long-term lease of public land, rather than WLN acquiring its own site? If a lease of Parcel E is genuinely under consideration, sound governance calls for a competitive RFP process to establish fair market value — not a negotiated arrangement with a single party. This is an unreasonable subsidy for New Canaan taxpayers to bear.
6. The approval process appears structured to avoid a town-wide vote. This proposal should be reviewed by the Board of Finance, Parks and Recreation Commission, Conservation Commission, and Board of Selectmen before any action by the Town Council. Instead, the Town Council is being asked to approve a Memorandum of Understanding before pending charter revisions take effect — a sequence that, under the current charter, would not be subject to a town-wide referendum. After the charter changes take effect in November, a referendum would be possible. Sequencing the MOU ahead of that date denies New Canaan voters a direct say in a decision of this magnitude. This is a process built to avoid a town-wide vote.
Mr. Berardino objects to imagery and word choice. I would welcome that same scrutiny applied to the underlying transaction: a public park parcel, a private commercial operator, and a process that has so far unfolded through private, registration-only meetings rather than open ones. The originating deeds, the governing statutes, and the underlying facts are publicly available at http://www.handsoffwaveny.com for any resident who wants to read them directly. More than 400 residents have signed a petition asking for transparency.
I ask Waveny LifeCare Network to hold a single, open town meeting at the New Canaan Library — not a series of private, invitation-only sessions — where any resident can attend, ask questions, and receive direct answers about the project, its financing, and its timeline. If this proposal is as sound as its proponents believe, it should be able to withstand full public examination.