News
Letter: Show Support for NCPA’s ‘Brick Barn’ Proposal
|
I was honored to be one of three New Canaan Preservation Alliance (“NCPA”, a 501(c)3 organization) representatives who, on July 23, presented to our First Selectman and Town Council Chairman NCPA’s offer to lease long-term, immediately stabilize, improve, and maintain the Mead Park Brick Barn (“MPBB”), a locally important and nationally scarce property listed on the Connecticut State Register Of Historic Places. The First Selectman’s response to NCPA’s credible long-term lease and restoration proposal was surprising. Within one day of meeting with NCPA (i) NCPA’s meeting request that he and the Town Council Chairman inform NCPA as to how and when earliest to present its proposal to New Canaan’s entire Town Council for its due consideration was ignored, (ii) NCPA’s proposal was shelved, and (iii) the Town’s demolition permit application process was started. NCPA proposed to immediately save and improve a building that New Canaan has admittedly neglected to maintain and lease for decades. NCPA proposed to immediately invest up to $40,000 to secure this approximately 800 square foot building, repair its doors, windows and roof, clean-up its perimeter landscape and occupy the building in a low impact manner. As additional consideration, NCPA (which is presently solely funding Waveny Park’s application to the U.S. National Historic Register) offered to assist our Town in applying for preservation and improvement grants for other qualifying New Canaan owned historic properties—to save New Canaan additional moneys.