The executive director of the New Canaan Library has told us to look at Darien as the model library for New Canaan to emulate. So we did. If Darien’s experience after it built its library is anything to go by, the New Canaan Library’s planned renovation really is shaping up to be a classic boondoggle.
Some data: After Darien built its new library in 2009 in a project very similar to what the New Canaan Library is contemplating now, after the first year rush, traffic there has fallen, even as operating costs to run the new, larger LEED, Gold (which should make it extra efficient) building soared from $2.9 million in 2007 to $4.99 million in 2019.
This was all pre-coronavirus, of course, and consistent with the trend across the state.
With all due respect to our friends in Darien, that can’t be counted as a success in any way. There’s little reason to think that the New Canaan Library will have a different experience once its new building is complete.
Yet the library is dead set to go ahead with its scheme. And without giving New Canaan taxpayers any significant information. Will this turn into another public/private venture like the playing fields? Who will make-up the shortfall when the building comes in over budget? And what is the budget, and what is it based on?
If the library were funded by private donations, that would be one thing. But it’s not. New Canaan taxpayers pony up 75% of the library’s operating costs every year, and pay healthcare for the employees as well as the insurance on the property and building. We need to see the New Canaan Library Board’s pro forma income statement, cash flow, and balance sheet model for the new library before we are asked to pay for it.
One thing we should take Darien’s lead on is keeping the original building. At the very least, the renovation plans should be altered so that the 1913 Landmark legacy isn’t torn down, so it can be repurposed (and it will give LEED credits!). The much-loved original 1913 building is an important link to New Canaan’s past, and the town and library would do well to honor it.
Those graph and charts are sobering and really call into question why the library wants to build such a large expensive building like our neighbors in Darien. Keeping the 1913 Library incorporated into the design of the proposed new library makes monetary, environmental, cultural, historical and community sense. One of the things that makes New Canaan unique is our architecture giving the town a quaint New England feel. Now that it’s clear the 1913 building is in excellent shape with an intact dry basement why would anyone even consider getting rid of it? Keep Christine’s Garden as the town green although I hardly ever see anyone using it on a daily basis.
Christine’s Garden was used once for a yoga class with baby goats.
Now, mostly dog walkers use it.
Yes, I agree that Christine’s Garden would be a better location for the New Canaan Library’s “Town Green” rather than their proposed noisier location at the intersection at Main and Cherry.
Thank you, Ms. Stichnoth for performing and sharing your due diligence as to one of the Town Of New Canaan’s largest contemplated capital expenditures.
If one taxpayer can do such due diligence with public domain information, I respectfully ask our Town’s Board Of Selectmen, Board of Finance and Town Council to share with all New Canaan taxpayers their own due diligence information and analyses performed and in-process to date, based not only on information available in the public domain, but including, without limitation, detailed information provided by the New Canaan Library Association, Inc. (“NCLA”).
The capital contribution ask of we taxpayers by NCLA, combined with the likely continuing increases in our Town’s annual contribution to afford NCLA’s expenses (now a commanding 75% of total! and uncontrolled by our Town government!), are consequential enough to require more than thorough due diligence!
Let’s not allow this to be a “we must do it to keep up with the Darien, Westport and Wilton Jones” decisions.
Sincerely,
Charles L. Robinson
We made a huge mistake with the Outback and we certainly don’t want to repeat it with the library. But in response to Neele Stichnoth’s letter, I’d like to point out that our library has something very important that Darien does not. It is in the center of town. That is a huge advantage. Also the Darien library does not have enough parking for its patrons when they are hosting a popular program, and there is no convenient alternative.
Speaking from personal experience, there is just not enough room in our library. Tutoring is done in whatever available nooks and crannies people can drag two chairs into. There is not enough meeting space, nor a good space for large programs. There is certainly no place where folks can hang out. It may be true that the library gets less usage for book borrowing than before but they have so much more to offer!
Both the Darien and Wilton libraries are an improvement on the space our library offers. I look forward to a new and improved library in New Canaan.
Debbie Chapman
I lived in Darien during the construction & reopening of its new library. Darien’s new library sits in the middle of nowhere, along the busy Boston Post Road, and not in close proximity to what is considered their downtown, pedestrian-trafficked area. During the first couple of years after the grand opening, the DL was the hot new thing; however, because of the remote location, it has become apparent that is not an automatic destination for most Darienites. Also note, the Darien Library was entirely relocated to a new parcel of land; therefore, the old building was easily repurposed. NC’s library sits in the heart of town & in a prime location, which is far more accessible to visitors. Our downtown village is a destination, unlike Darien’s. I think The NEW NCL will be a both a community gathering center and a library, thereby attracting record numbers for decades to come. Lastly, I can’t even begin to account for the incredible programming and services that set the New Canaan Library apart from all the rest. I think the town’s investment in the New NCL is a win-win.
Using the same model, – a 26% increase over 10 years, the taxpayer contribution to the Library would $3.37million by 2031 and that doesn’t take into account the cost of the $10 million bond to the taxpayer.
Yes, the libraries are in different locations but same theme applies – visitors declined, card holders declined, programming was increased to try to compensate for the loss but the operating costs increased.
Taxpayers should have more say in the size of the new Library , the location of the new library and the Library should raise funds to create an endowment to become sustainable.
Thank you Neele for the analysis.
Interesting facts in this article, but does it go far enough to make the best overall decision. How does a town library play into a family deciding what town to move into? What is the role of a library in 2020 compared to even the recent past, certainly it is more than just books? Dozens of questions like these need to be asked, dicussed and answered. Some answers might be quantifiable as in dollars and cents while other answers will be qualitatively answered. Both types will be important in the process.
Regards from a Darien resident that loves the Darien library,
Stephen
Perhaps equating physical visits to usage is not a correct measure anymore. Many of us borrow books all the time, but we do it electronically, using apps like Overdrive and Libby.
We Darien residents love our library. Whatever New Canaan decides, its residents will love theirs too.
Liz Mao, Darien
I am particularly informed by those helpful comments from the select Darien, CT residents that were motivated to comment here.
Upon re-reading and analyzing their comments, it must be noted that their salient advances to our knowledge are that electronic means best enable their (families’) noted information capture, and, by extension, other Darien residents’.
These commenters and their remarkably similar comments advance our knowledge of how they gain information, BUT provide no comprehensible link to the physical Darien Library building (!), and absolutely do not address the key fiscal/monetary points:
Darien taxpayers afforded a large and expensive LEED Gold building, which enjoyed one to two years of greater visitation by Darien residents and others.
After this “honeymoon period” visitation by Darien residents and others dropped off markedly.
Beginning with Darien’s honeymoon period and continuing to date, the Town of Darien’s municipal contribution to its large and expensive library and its operations have increased dramatically, again, despite fewer and fewer visits to, what New Canaan Library’s executive director heralds as Connecticut’s marquis, and best to be emulated library.
The Darien commenters, like the New Canaan Library Association, Inc. (“NCLA”) to date, expressly and completely avoid any observation, discussion or analysis of whether and how any existing or SketchUp-animated library should now and tomorrow configure its physical space and operations to protect its volunteers and visitors, all of whom are now affected by and ostensibly knowledgeable what today’s and tomorrow’s novel and even lethal pandemic viruses mean for us.
The “bums’ rush” by the NCLA and Town Of New Canaan government officials to approve and accelerate a $10 million and likely greater capital contribution to a new NCLA library building (the undocumented, ” loosey goosey” cost of which has now, like the “unanticipated” second wave of Covid-19 infections, grown by $5 million to $35 million with no associated details) must stop now!
New Canaan’s taxpayers must undertake their own detailed due diligence analysis of what is going on with this boondoggle in the making. Our Town government officials have not to date, and either cannot or will not perform the necessary due diligence to save all New Canaan taxpayers from a to be bonded mistake, which will keep on mistaking.
Thank you, Darien commenters for helping to illuminate more brightly what your Town’s experience has been. New Canaan taxpayers–let us all come into the light, and undertake thorough due diligence ourselves. Our Town government officials won’t share their due diligence, or did little or none themselves, beyond watching SketchUp animated renderings.
Sincerely,
Charles L. Robinson
Another extremely important consideration to the proposed establishment of a new town green after the 1913 Library gets razed is whether the town green would be under signed law placed in perpetuity. In other words, after likely new library construction cost overruns and resulting funding gaps, what would prevent the town from selling this incredibly valuable land parcel to a deep-pocketed private equity real estate developer to erect a ghastly commercial building or more dense multi-housing?