Cristina A. Ross

‘We Are in Uncharted Territory’: Town Council Debates Future of ‘Mead Park Brick Barn’

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Though the Town Council on Wednesday night once again raised the specter of the “Mead Park Brick Barn” and its pending demolition, some members of the legislative body said their ongoing discussion only offers the false hope that it can be spared the wrecking ball. During a meeting attended by preservationists who have been working for months on a plan to preserve the century-old structure on Richmond Hill Road, Councilman Tom Butterworth noted that the Council already voted on an appropriation of demo funds, and said the difficulty in having a meaningful conversations now is that the “process” of municipal government is underway. 

“We have a process in our government and if you want to look at what the implications of that are, look at the people here tonight that we are misleading by having this discussion,” Butterworth said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. 

“It’s fine for us: We have no skin in the game on this anymore. We voted. We are done. If somebody can come up with a way to revive this issue and put it in some way so that the Town Council has jurisdiction, please bring it on.

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‘The Building Is Going To Come Down’: First Selectman Vows To Demolish ‘Mead Park Brick Barn,’ Withholds Details on How

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Without specifying just how it would happen, New Canaan’s highest elected official said Thursday that the century-old brick structure at the northern edge of Mead Park—a former fuel depot that historic preservationists want to save while others want to raze—will be demolished. Referring vaguely to “a process” regarding what preservationists call the “Mead Park Brick Barn,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said during a press briefing in his office at Town Hall that “it’s going to play out and then the building is going to come down.”

The most recent town body to weigh in on the future of what has also been called the “Richmond Hill Garage,” the Planning & Zoning Commission, voted unanimously at its Oct. 30 meeting to “abandon” the building—checking off a box required by state law in cases where a municipality divests itself of real property. Yet P&Z’s vote appears to have no bearing on a separate decision that falls to the Board of Selectmen—namely, to approve the contracts for a company to physically knock the building down and cart away its remains. The selectmen during their Oct.

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P&Z Approves Plan To ‘Abandon’ Richmond Hill Garage; Future of ‘Mead Park Brick Barn’ Still Unclear

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Saying the abandonment—and, by implication, demolition—of a century-old, vacant brick building at the northern edge of Mead Park has been approved by multiple town bodies in the past, would improve the view there and is consistent with development guidelines for New Canaan, the Planning & Zoning Commission on Tuesday night voted unanimously to support a plan to relinquish it. Because the “Mead Park Brick Barn” or “Richmond Hill Garage” at 64 Richmond Hill Road is a town-owned building, P&Z approval is required under state law to “abandon” it. 

Even with P&Z’s 9-0 vote, however, the future of the building remains as unclear as it has since last week, when the Board of Selectmen decided to forgo voting on contracts to demolish it and dispose safely of its remains. During an interview after P&Z’s vote, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, a proponent of demolition, said the contracts must come back to the selectmen for a vote (the Board is scheduled to meet Nov. 6). Referring to parts of New Canaan’s periodically updated Plan of Conservation and Development or ‘POCD,’ P&Z Commissioners asserted that clearing the area of the brick structure offered advantages that outweighed what could be gained by preserving it. 

Chairman John Goodwin said the POCD requires New Canaan to “make some tradeoffs” with respect to historic buildings such as barns.

Board of Selectmen

Still Standing: Selectmen Forgo Vote on ‘Mead Park Brick Barn’ Demolition, Opening Question of Board’s Powers

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After 90 minutes of debate and public comment at a tense meeting Tuesday, town officials ultimately decided to forgo voting on whether to approve contracts to demolish the “Mead Park Brick Barn” and remove its would-be contaminant-laden debris. By taking no action on a pair of proposed contracts—one for about $44,000 to raze what some call the “Richmond Hill Garage,” and another for about $9,000 to safely dispose of its remains—a divided Board of Selectmen effectively stalled the structure’s demolition. 

After hearing from the public and echoing much of the same thinking they had voiced last month, the selectmen also opened up a new question about whether or not the Board is acting appropriately by forestalling a demolition already approved by other decision-making bodies in local government. “My problem is I think it is a nullification of the bodies that voted on this,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said during the Board’s regular meeting at Town Hall. Moynihan referred to the Town Council’s 6-6 vote in May—which he himself broke, as per the Town Charter—to include $65,00 to raze the Barn as part of a larger bonding package. After that, the town applied (to itself) to demolish the 1911-built structure on the northern edge of Mead Park, where Standard Oil’s horse-drawn delivery wagons used to fill containers for fuel delivery in New Canaan.

Government

Town Solicits Bids To Demolish ‘Mead Park Brick Barn’

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The town on Thursday took a step toward demolishing the ‘Mead Park Brick Barn’ by putting out a formal request for bids from companies to raze the widely discussed structure, New Canaan’s highest elected official said. The bids are due back Oct. 18, Kevin Moynihan said during a press briefing held Thursday morning at Town Hall. “This is very ministerial at this point,” he said. 

The Brick Barn is slated for demolition Oct. 23, after the town issued a 90-day delay in August.