Letters to the Editor 

NewCanaanite.com recently received the following letter(s) to the editor. Please send letters to editor@newcanaanite.com for publication here.

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According to the ‘Did You Hear’ last week John Goodwin will be stepping down shortly as Chair of the New Canaan Planning and Zoning Commission.  My family and I thank him for his service – it is an incredible record of volunteerism over many years with numerous challenging cases.  

What struck me in the write up is how his successor will be chosen.  

Planning and Zoning is no ordinary body in New Canaan, as many of us have found out over the last years.  P&Z spearheads our crucial Plan of Conservation and Development (coming up for renewal soon), our Affordable Housing Plan (can be updated anytime) and takes on the most challenging local cases (for example the library and the balancing act regarding the 1913 structure).  The decisions made by P&Z literally impact all residents of New Canaan.

As we consider who will take over Chairmanship of P&Z, we should also keep in mind that we are getting close to the period where the Town Charter needs to be reviewed.  I.e. this is an opportune time to reflect on how we want the town to be organized / governed going forward.

With that in mind, perhaps it is now time to start a community discussion regarding how members of Planning and Zoning (and perhaps Board of Finance – as this is also a critical town body) gain their roles.  

Most of our peer towns elect Planning and Zoning and Board of Finance Commissioners.  The positive aspect of that is open engagement with the community about what it would like the priorities to be – and perhaps also more public education on the issues.  There are also downsides, not least of which is the risk of short-term outlooks on issues based on election cycles or political agendas overly inserted into such commissions.  An idea could be to make the terms for the roles in both P&Z and Board of Finance 6-year roles (1/3^rd of the board elected each 2 years) to keep the longevity value, while also getting more community input.

I have great respect and gratitude for everybody who volunteers for both Planning and Zoning and the Board of Finance – they all do incredible work.  We do however need to bring more openness to the towns governing process, and we should consider ways to do just that.

Giacomo Landi

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The November 15, 2022, Town of New Canaan Planning and Zoning meeting may be one for the books as one of the most head-scratching decisions in New Canaan history. 

At this meeting representatives for the Owner of 151 Main Street presented their follow up plans for demolishing almost half of the Landmark 1913 Library, demolishing all the floors, gutting the entire remaining interior, possibly replacing all the original windows (maybe/maybe not – unclear), removing the remaining building shell from its original foundation/location, creating an exterior wall from a partial original interior wall using concrete block and brick veneer, and lifting/moving the remnant across the lot to be less than 15 feet from a gas station – all with money that the Library has stated they do not have. 

The Library presented its Legacy Proposal almost a year ago, received Conditional approval from P&Z and agreed to come back with details of exactly what was to be saved, how the building was to be moved, and what its public use would be. What was presented on October 25^th and November 15^th was at the confession of the Library’s representatives, lacking in several details and they assured the Commissioners they would conform to whatever P&Z required if only they would receive approval on the spot. On several previous occasions before several other town bodies Library representatives have stated that they must have an immediate decision, or their project will come screeching to a halt. It’s called a gun to the head.

Commissioners were required to make several conditions in their approval because the presentation and submission was so vague and incomplete: floor plan/use of the building, landscaping associated with undetermined fencing behind building (not to mention no or minimal communication with owner of neighboring gas station), site drainage (town engineer still not satisfied with this third or fourth iteration), preservation of frescos/murals in Salant Room (no one seemed to know which they were) – but they approved the zoning  changes anyway. Why? Also, several Commissioners stated that in the time since the conditional approval almost a year ago they had learned so much about preservation (regarding far less culturally and architecturally important buildings in the community) that in retrospect if they were voting today on approval of the Library’s Legacy proposal as presented last December, they probably would not approve the proposal. Then they voted to approve the change to the Zoning, some “reluctantly”. Why?

The Commission Chair disagreed and stated that he felt that the Library’s Legacy proposal including moving the building fell within the definition of preservation. Let me set the record straight. THIS IS NOT PRESERVATION. What is and is not preservation is not subjective and is well defined and established. None of the proposed list of items deemed necessary by the Library for the Legacy Project and listed above fall under the well-defined categories of either Preservation, Restoration or Rehabilitation. Please do not call this preservation.

Several Commissioners, including the Chair complained that this decision had been dumped upon them by other Town bodies that had been reluctant to take the blame for making a decision one way or another about the fate of 1913. The Commission then stated, “if there is a different route to be taken, our publicly elected officials can take it”. Then they still decided to approve. Why? 

A member of the Historical Review Committee (of which I am a member) made a public statement and noted that that Town Committee had designated the 1913 Library to be of historic and architectural significance and made the recommendation to the Commission that the Commission pause in their decision and refer the issue to independent preservation professionals who could make an assessment on the Library’s Legacy proposal based on the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties. The Commission did not even address this Committee’s statement or recommendation. Why?

I cannot imagine being in a meeting at my place of business and my team stating that we had possibly made a mistake in a previous decision, and if given the chance, would probably make a different decision now, but we were pushing forward with our work based upon and building upon that decision without pausing to review what we had learned in the interim. I doubt very much that we would still have our jobs after that meeting. 

This will be one for the history books as the night that New Canaan Planning and Zoning stated, “This is our Penn Station moment! Let’s do it anyway!”

Rose Scott Long

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Every year in early December, we are fortunate to have the New Canaan Beautification League and the New Canaan Garden Club partner to hold our town’s Holiday Greens Workshop at the Nature Center. Several dozen volunteers from both clubs create many of our town’s holiday decorations from scratch  into the giant size festive wreaths displayed on our town’s municipal buildings throughout the season.

This doesn’t just happen. Our town is beautified by a wonderful group of talented and dedicated volunteers who give their time on this very special day. These many volunteers have been making us smile year after year with their festive holiday decorations.

How about those incredible and adorable Gnomes which began three years ago! Their popularity continues to grow, and you can’t help but smile when you see them.

A huge and noteworthy thank you to the New Canaan Beautification League members who work together to organize, publicize, and create this wonderful sense of community with this Holiday Greens workshop.

A most sincere  gratitude  to the many members of our New Canaan community, especially, to the staff of the New Canaan Parks Department: John Howe, Todd Deklyn, and their entire team, who pick up, deliver and install each completed piece: six giant wreaths, 40 smaller ones, garlands, eight adorable Gnomes, lights, and trees and always with a smile.

Special thanks to Carrie Cocoran, who led the team of  volunteers from The New Canaan Garden Club to create arrangements for Meals on Wheels, and the many New Canaan Beautification League members like Carol Seldin, who always contributes abundant materials, Peter Atkins, of Peter Atkins Associates, LLC Landscape, Hutchinson Tree, Mill River Tree and many others.

Let’s not forget an extra special thank you to Janet Schmitz, an almost 50 year  resident, who provided the beautiful and bountiful holly from her property.

Another key partner again this year was Jenn Cipriano of South Salem’s Copia Home & Garden, who provided fresh small wreaths. And, thank you, Faith Kerchoff, also leader of the Gnomes, Kathy Lapolla, Kathy Kwiatkowski and Yvonne Hunkeler for your unique and beautiful container design and Gnome work.

We wish everyone a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy and Healthy 2023!

With gratitude,

Kathleen and Peter Murphy, Barbara O’Shea and Bob Strong, Co-Chairs  New Canaan Beautification League

Tracy Merrill, New Canaan  Garden Club

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To the Editor:

Your article mentions I spoke to the Commission at length.  As I introduced my remarks, I acknowledged that I was speaking as a private citizen.  To the extent I was identified as a Town Councilman, I was speaking as someone elected to represent the views of citizens.  In this case, I was there to speak for many, many citizens, certainly not a “vocal minority” which the Library and press choose to describe, who have very identifiable and concerned views about preserving the 1913 Library.  Additionally, I was concerned the Historic Review Committee, a fully ordinance-appointed body, was denied an official presentation and discussion by the Commission of their report which clearly identifies the proposed efforts by the Library to “preserve” the building as not meeting the federal Secretary of the Interior’s official Standards.   Having co-chaired an extensive review of 56 buildings which the Town owns, I am keenly aware of the extraordinary effort which is engaged in to both preserve and annually maintain these buildings.  Consequently, it deeply bothers me, and countless others, that there was not and continues to be such an unconcerned attitude by both the Town bodies and P&Z Commission toward respecting a precious icon of our Town’s history and preserving it for continued use by the whole community.   At first it was focus on making sure the “New” library would be approved; that has happened, the building is now part of the profile of our downtown.  So let’s move on to a more critical focus – who we are as a community and respect for our unique history. 

My hope springs eternal that the Library Board will see the folly in focusing on a stretch of green grass, which as it turns out would be larger with the 1913 in situ!, and will encourage the New Canaan Preservation Alliance to gather community support to actually “preserve” the 1913 structure and create an arts and culture center to be enjoyed by all for another hundred years.

Penny Young