New Canaan is taking steps to help figure out what to do with a largely disused building on Nature Center property that had been operated by what officials call a dissolved nonprofit group.
Audubon House had been operated by the now-defunct New Canaan Audubon Society.
The town had granted a license (not a lease, officials say) to the New Canaan Audubon Society to use Audubon House, which for years has sat in a wooded area near the Visitors Center at the New Canaan Nature Center.
New Canaan’s legal advisors say New Canaan now controls that license, since the Audubon Society here dissolved itself, and that it’s a good time to decide whether and how to use Audubon House, since private groups likely are interested in using it, the Board of Selectmen said this week.
Audubon House is located at the New Canaan Nature Center.
“Before that happens, let’s get an idea of what that building’s expenses could be, what’s the liability involved in someone else using that building,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said Tuesday during the board’s meeting, held in the training room at the New Canaan Police Department.
The selectmen voted unanimously to move toward terminating the formal license with the New Canaan Audubon Society—a change that requires Town Council support.
On its website, the Nature Center describes Audubon House this way: “This building, owned by the New Canaan Audubon Society, is where the members hold monthly meetings.” The New Canaan Land Trust and New Canaan Audubon Society merged last year. On its website, the land trust says its properties include “56 acres formerly held by the New Canaan Audubon Society.”
I understand that building was the “Wash House” on the Bliss Estate and part of the original lay-out of the property. Is was far enough away from the residence so that the heat and stem were not a nuisance.
I can name several non-profits who would love to use that little building!