The 1913 library building is worth preserving and can be saved “at reasonable cost and limited impact to the proposed new library,” according to a consultant’s analysis filed last week with the town planner.
The building, which includes a 1930s addition, “retains many of its character defining features, is in very good condition and provides many benefits,” according to a May 19 report from William W. Crosskey III, founder of Hartford-based Crosskey Architects LLC.
It “provides a sense of place, community pride and identity distinct from other places” and “maintains stylistic diversity to New Canaan’s architecture,” Crosskey said in the report, citing information collected by a principal of the firm during a May 14 site visit. The 1913 building also “provides stabilization and growth” and “enhances cultural tourism to town center,” among other plusses, the report said.
Crosskey was hired at the request of the Planning & Zoning Commission to review New Canaan Library’s application as well as materials presented by a group advocating for preservation of the 1913 library, to help commissioners understand the pros and cons of saving or demolishing the structure.
P&Z is scheduled Tuesday night to hold its fifth and final public hearing on the library’s applications to build a new facility.
Plans filed Feb. 26 call for a 42,641-square-foot facility oriented toward South Avenue and Maple Street—with a Children’s Room twice the size of the current one, a Business Center, flex spaces such as a teaching kitchen and large meeting room, 355-seat auditorium, outdoor terrace, small ‘café,’ ’living room’ on the mezzanine level promoting social interaction and ‘library green’ that includes the parcel where the library’s original 1913 building now stands.
The building is expected to cost $36 million to $38 million, including contingencies. It will take about two years to build. The library has raised more than $16 million toward the project and has asked the town for a $10 million contribution (the Town Council last month approved a proposed agreement with the library regarding the funds). A local group, Friends of Our 1913 Library, is trying to ensure the structure’s preservation on-site. P&Z hearings opened in March with the library’s presentation. There, library officials detailed their efforts through many early years of planning to figure out a way to preserve the 1913 building in the project while ensuring New Canaan was getting the best possible facility for the community.
Since unveiling the plans publicly in January 2020, library officials have maintained that the proposed green—including the land where the 1913 structure stands—is an integral part of its overall rebuilding plan.
New Canaan Library Executive Director Lisa Oldham told P&Z during its April 27 hearing that “the library green will be a real ‘community commons.’ ”
“It is an outdoor room that provides the library exciting new ways to achieve its mission,” she said. “Like the indoor spaces at the new library, the green will allow members and others freedom to enjoy reading in the outside fresh air. Fully WiFi-connected, our members will enjoy sitting on the terrace or on the lawn to work and study outdoors.”
The green “provides exciting new opportunities for our mission-driven and entrepreneurial team to develop and deliver enriching outdoor experiences that will delight our members, young and old,” Oldham said. “These will include a wide range of programs varying in scale and content. Outdoor performance during the warmer months will include music, family-focused performances and annual events such as the Teddy Bear Picnic, PumpkinFest, animal encounters and more. Structured learning will include plein air painting classes, tai-chi, citizen science projects, outdoor films and other events. Our younger learners will enjoy the opportunity to continue their STEAM [Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics] learning outside, with family astronomy evenings, rocketry competitions, physics, science learning and more.”
The green also will allow the library to hold fundraisers on its own property, rather than spending money to rent out spaces from other facilities, and “passive, non-programmed use of the green will encourage both locals and visitors to stay downtown, patronize local businesses and contribute to our local economy,” she said.
According to a January 2020 study from Rocky Hill-based AdvanceCT (formerly Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc.) that analyzes the proposed new library’s impact on the local economy, “the planned library enhancements are expected to contribute significantly to New Canaan’s placemaking initiatives, providing an important public amenity and urban gathering space.”
“Additional programming, a café and a planned [Library] Green should notably increase foot traffic and enhance local economic activity,” the study said,
Specifically, if the new library sees a post-construction increase in annual visits similar to that experienced by other Connecticut libraries post-construction, it could get an additional 82,000 visits per year, the study said.
“If spending at local businesses during those additional visits is similar to existing patrons’ spending, as reported by survey respondents, this could mean an increase in annual spending associated with the new library of up to $6.6 million at local establishments,” it said.
Crosskey in its report lists cultural, economic and environmental cons to preserving the 1913 building, in addition to pros. Reducing the size of the library green will mean smaller seasonal outdoor events, and less income. The report also notes that “achieving economic benefit of preservation requires time and effort to create a financial plan” and that a “marketable use” must be found for the building.
According to an estimate that’s listed in supporting documents to the Crosskey letter, the cost of preserving the 1913 building is about $1,351,032. The estimates that the library’s consultant and preservationists had put forward each are about 50% off of that figure. The preservationists during an April 15 presentation to P&Z put the figure at about $828,000. A consultant hired by the library’s building committee in an April 27 presentation to P&Z put it at $2.3 million to $2.7 million.
It’s unclear whether or how the Crosskey report will influence P&Z’s decision regarding the library’s applications for site plan and Special Permit approval. The library owns its own buildings and land.
P&Z Chair John Goodwin had called for it at the April 27 meeting, and his fellow commissioners agreed to instruct the applicant—as P&Z often does with major applications—to pay for a new study from an independent consultant whose duties would include assessing what would it cost to retain the building, as well as what are the incremental demolition costs, what are the retrofit costs and how does such a building fit vis-a-vis a modern library.
Goodwin also noted at the meeting that P&Z was awaiting more information regarding traffic. That information now appears to be in hand.
In a report submitted May 12 to the Department of Public Works that forms part of the P&Z file on the library’s applications, a consultant hired to review parking and traffic—Michael Galante, director of traffic at Norwalk-based Hardesty & Hanover LLC—said that creating a second exit from Center School Lot, where most all library parking will be located, will do much to relieve traffic congestion on Maple and Main Streets once the new facility opens. He also called for additional traffic counts and analysis after that time. The Police Commission at its May 19 meeting unanimously approved the second, two-way exit out of the parking lot, as well as an inlaid crosswalk across Maple Street to the new library’s main entrance, and four on-site disabled parking spaces.
Crosskey in its report on the 1913 building noted that “annual maintenance and operating costs vary and are dependent on the new use/occupancy of the building.”
“Maintenance and operating costs for the same use in a new building vs. a newly renovated building are approximately the same,” the report said. “One exception could be that the utility costs are higher in and older building. But if the building is newly renovated the building envelope can be thermally improved and new energy efficient equipment added minimizing or eliminating a difference in energy usage.”
To the question of whether the 1913 building is worth preserving, the Crosskey report said “Yes.”
To the question of whether it could be memorialized if razed, Crosskey said, “If the old library is demolished, a memorial could be designed to recall the building’s location or some aspect(s) of the building, like its history, significance, materials, etc.”
“The success, strength and meaning of a memorial will depend on the creativeness and quality of the design and its ability to keep remembrance of the old library alive,” the report said. “But in the end, it’s just a memorial and does not embody the meaning, cultural and educational value of the historic building.”
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