Amanda Martocchio

Library Proposes Estimated $2 Million Renovation of 1913 Building, New Uses Include Additional Meeting and Event Space

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New Canaan Library is proposing a renovation of its legacy 1913 building to accommodate additional meeting space and group functions—a project that officials say is designed to meet an identified need in the community while preserving the historic structure and integrating it into the overall campus. In addition to getting modern energy-efficiency upgrades, the estimated $2 million project will see the 65-by-20-foot building updated with an ADA-compliant bathroom, kitchenette and multipurpose storage/green room that will require a modest 6- to 8-foot “bumpout” behind it (toward the back of the Gulf station), according to library CEO Ellen Sullivan Crovatto. 

“The legacy building was preserved and moved back on our campus during the building project in 2023, and it has been empty and unfinished since that time,” Sullivan Crovatto told NewCanaanite.com during an interview that also included Board of Trustees Chair Doug Stewart, Vice Chair Sharon Teles and architect Amanda Martocchio, who served on the building committee for the new library. “This capital project will rehabilitate and repurpose what remains of the original 1913 structure, and successfully integrate it both physically and programmatically into our library campus.”

The space could accommodate up to 90 people, she said. The library plans to file applications for site plan and Special Permit approval with the Planning & Zoning Commission ahead of its Dec. 15 meeting, Sullivan Crovatto said.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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New Canaan Police at 8:47 p.m. Monday received a report of items stolen from a Chichester Road home, possibly involving a juvenile. 

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New Canaan Public Schools kindergarten 2027 pre-registration is open. ***

In partnership with the Friends of Music of St. Mark’s, The Glass House presents “Adam Tendler: Piano Works” at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21 at St. Mark’s.

Around Town

Coffee’s on for Thursday

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Join fellow residents and NewCanaanite.com editor Michael Dinan for the monthly Community Coffee, to be held 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 5 in the Jim & Dede Bartlett Auditorium at New Canaan Library. The Coffee is presented in partnership with the library, and the brew is supplied by Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee (thank you, Doug). Salon Anastassia provides cookies and muffins. The free, public coffee is a group conversation about what’s happening around town, moderated by Dinan. Topics come from attendees and we spend no more than 10 minutes per subject.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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A woodpecker that flew into a plate glass window at a Laurel Road  home just north of Soundview Lane, reported to police at 1:12 p.m. on Oct. 23, was brought to donor-supported nonprofit Wildlife In Crisis with its injury. The Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker is expected to make a full recovery, according to New Canaan Police Animal Officer Sean Godejohn. ***

The Artisan Market Fine Art & Craft Fair will be held Nov. 7 and 8 at Silvermine Galleries. 

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As of Thursday afternoon, 15% of New Canaan electors had voted early, according to Democratic Registrar of Voters Liz Orteig.

Around Town

Norwalk Woman To Sue Town After Parking Lot Collision

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Municipal officials on Sept. 29 received notice of a Norwalk woman’s plans to sue the town following a car crash in Stamford. According to a notice of claim filed on behalf of Mariana Deenihan, at about 1:52 p.m. on Sept. 3 (a Thursday) a man driving a town-owned vehicle struck her car as she pulled into a space in the Ace Hardware on Hope Street in Stamford. The town-owned vehicle “suddenly and without warning pulled out of its parking space and drove into the space occupied by the claimant’s vehicle, striking the claimant’s vehicle and resulting in injuries and damages to the claimant,” according to the notice, filed with the Town Clerk’s office by Guilford-based lawyer Jason G. DeGenaro.