A local nonprofit organization last week filed its third lawsuit against the New Canaan Planning & Zoning Commission following the appointed body’s approval of a widely anticipated rebuilding project downtown.
The New Canaan Preservation Alliance had filed administrative appeals in August 2021 when P&Z approved New Canaan Library’s project, and then again in January 2022 after the Commission approved the library’s plan to preserve much of what remains of an original 1913 building by moving it to the organization’s western property line.
On Dec. 7, the Town Clerk’s office received notice of another complaint from the NCPA, this one saying that P&Z’s Nov. 15 approvals of a text change to the zoning regulations and site plan for the library to move and enclose an approximately 65-by-20-foot piece of the legacy building about five feet from the property line that the library shares with the Gulf station.
The approvals were “illegal, unlawful, capricious, and/or an abuse of the power and authority vested in the Commission pursuant to the Connecticut General Statutes” because they run a public document that guides planning in New Canaan, as well as a section of the zoning regulations that “encourages ‘protecting the character and the historic, social and economic stability of all parts of the Town and ensuring that development is orderly and beautiful,’ ” and “are contrary to the Village District sections” of the regulations, according to the complaint, filed in state Superior Court on behalf of the NCPA by attorneys Patricia Sullivan and Wilson Carroll of Bridgeport-based Cohen and Wolf, P.C.
As with the first two lawsuits, which are pending, K.K.F LLC—a company that owns the Mobil Station property downtown and whose principals own and operate that business—is listed as a plaintiff, in addition to the NCPA.
The new library is on track to open in the first quarter of 2023, officials have said. Plans call for a new building and creation of a library green overlooking Main and Cherry Streets.
The NCPA takes issue with the relocation of “part of the 1913 library” in the lawsuit, noting that it “is not ‘in situ’ preservation.”
“The relocation of the 1913 Library is not consistent with any understanding or definition of ‘historic preservation’ pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act, the New Canaan Plan of Conservation and Development, the New Canaan Zoning Regulations or the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation,” according to the lawsuit. P&Z’s allowing a 1936 addition to the legacy library to be demolished is “in clear violation” of a condition in the original approval, “which calls for the preservation of ‘appropriate portions of the existing library building older than 1937,’ ” the complaint said.
“The Commission did not make required findings of fact or identify sufficient or adequate reasons for its actions pursuant to the Zoning Regulations, the Connecticut General Statutes, and/or common law of the State of Connecticut,” it said.
The NCPA is “classically aggrieved because it was formed for the specific purpose of preserving buildings and structures of historic significance in the Town and taking such action as may be appropriate to preserve historic buildings and structures in the Town,” the complaint said. “Moreover, its members include residents and taxpayers of the Town who also have a specific, personal interest in preserving buildings and structures of historic and cultural significance in the Town. Therefore, the Alliance has a specific, personal and legal interest that all members of the community share, and accordingly, the Alliance is classically aggrieved.”
The Mobil Station also is “statutorily aggrieved” as a neighboring property, according to the complaint.
The complaint asks the court to deem P&Z’s Nov. 15 approvals null and void.
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