Dear Editor:
I am a Realtor in New Canaan. Last year I sold a nearly $4 million house across the street from Grace Farms. The buyers came to Grace Farms immediately after looking at the house, were served tea in the teahouse, and decided that Grace Farms is the perfect neighbor and they bought the house.
Just how extraordinary is that? It shouldn’t be. But, this house teaches us a useful lesson about property values in New Canaan. This house was on the market since it was built in 2007. The house sat for 10 years. Then the house sold once the River Building was up, the basketball court was open, the trails were full, and the teahouse was serving tea. That out-of-town family decided that New Canaan was a welcoming community with neighborhood assets like Grace Farms in their backyard.
The buyers are not members of the Grace Community Church. Nor am I. If Grace Farms was limited to being a church we would not have come for tea and we would not have appreciated what welcoming places Grace Farms and New Canaan are. We went for the tea and the open space. If we are afraid that the Grace Farms Foundation will serve too much tea, do not fear because they only have six seats in their teahouse.
The tourists. Are we afraid that the existence of The Glass House and now the River Building as destinations for outsiders will change the character of New Canaan? Is that why we are limiting each of them to so few events? Let’s give both of them a chance.
Grace Farms Foundation has been accused of having a negative impact on our property values. In fact, they enhance property values. Let me tell you why.
New Canaan property values are predicated on four things: the picturesque downtown, the schools, the commute and low taxes. Low taxes are absolutely dependent on having a thriving commercial zone with low vacancy rates serving food and selling product to residents and outsiders. As any of our restaurants will tell you, we cannot depend on a population of 20,000. We depend on the marketing of New Canaan as a destination. A robust commercial zone is what separates New Canaan from Wilton, Weston and Ridgefield with their statistically equal schools, but their 40 percent higher mill rate. That difference accounts for a 47 percent higher value of homes in New Canaan.
Grace Farms is enhancing the value of the houses around it. It is well documented that the economic contributions of publicly accessible parkland and open space are twofold: First, they increase the nearby property values (providing more tax revenue to the town) and second, towns avoid costs associated with providing municipal services to a residential development that might otherwise have been located on this site.
It’s not enough to speak generally about this phenomenon. Let’s talk about property values of immediately abutting neighbors. Recently, the New Canaan Land Trust studied the impact of its nearly 400 acres located in every neighborhood in New Canaan and they found that for the 300 neighbors abutting their open space in New Canaan that those property values are 32 percent higher than those who do not abut open space. Thirty-two percent higher. The impact to the town revenues of that open space enhancement is estimated to be $156 million in incremental value, or about $2.5 million contribution to the town’s budget every year.
Grace Farms is 95 percent open space. In a year spent debating high-density development proposals such as Merritt Village and Roger Sherman isn’t it refreshing that this application went in the opposite direction? Finally, an application that gives back to all of us in town, all the churches, all the non-profits, by giving back free space without strings. You are right to be suspicious because it really is extraordinary.
I like what the tours of the Glass House and River Building has done for our town, and so does the real estate market. The people who come here not only spend money and support our essential commercial district—they reflect a greater diversity that is good for the real estate market. Grace Farms attracts the curious from around the world and makes a good impression. And when they feel welcome here, they shop eat and sometimes they buy houses here.
You are being asked to amend the Special Permit granted to Grace Farms Foundation so that they can continue to use the property in a manner consistent with how they use it already. I urge you to approve the application.
Sincerely,
John Engel
Member, Town Council of New Canaan
President, Rotary Club of New Canaan
Board Member, Staying Put in New Canaan
Board Member, The New Canaan Land Trust
Realtor, Halstead Property New Canaan
Well written. I agree completely.
Excellent example of thorough research, incisive thinking, and common sense! Thanks, John.
Here’s hoping that reasonable accommodations can be reached regarding screening and privacy of neighbors, and that P&Z can sort through the regulatory questions. Grace Farms isn’t perfect, but its enormous value to New Canaan more than justifies the effort to resolve the outstanding issues.
Tom,
Completely agree.
Grace Farms actions have been hardly perfect, but the big picture for our town is well presented.
All right, so long as open space is not filled with hundreds of daily users.
Two thoguths:
First, I highly doubt that there’s any evidence that the presence or absence of the additional uses which Grace Farms is requesting will have any impact on the property tax levels for New Canaan homeowners. If there’s any such evidence let’s see it. If not, we should dismiss this argument as speculative at best, and most likely illusory.
Second, even if this line of reasoning were accurate, I would gladly pay higher property taxes to live in a town in which individuals’ property rights are respected, rather than in a town in which the rights of any homeowner to the quiet enjoyment of his or her home are abridged by another party with the blessings of the town government.
Thank you JM for making these points so well.
Mr. Engel also defended Grace Farms in an article published elsewhere on 9/17/16. He stated that he did not believe that Grace Farms representatives misled P&Z in 2013, but he thought that their plans just evolved over time.
That defense is now out of step with the argument Grace Farms is putting forward at P&Z – that Grace Farms was up front about their plans but that P&Z just misunderstood.
So Mr. Engel is now showing his loyalty to Grace Farms by putting forward a separate defense. But it would appear that the property he is referencing is 1083 Smith Ridge Road, which sold last year for $3.675 million. This property is not “across the street” from Grace Farms: there is no view of Grace Farms from the property and it is a 1.3 mile walk from this property to the entrance of Grace Farms. To suggest that this has any relationship to the impact of Grace Farms on neighboring properties is absurd.
At Monday night’s P&Z hearing, a real estate appraiser for the neighbors cut to shreds the argument that Mr. Engel is making. There is a big difference between having Grace Farms 1.3 miles away and having it right on top of you in a 4 acre residential zone. And there is a big difference between Grace Community Church and what Grace Farms is trying to become.
TC,
I did a little research after I read your comment above and this is what I found:
On Trulia.com dated February 3, 2016 the listing of the property you mentioned was described as:
“Be the first owner of this fabulous ; new construction in the Smith Ridge estates area, steps from the newly famous River building at Grace Farms.”
According to the Assessor’s records, this property was appraised at $5,070,900 and sold for $$3,675,000 — a
difference of $1,395,900 or approximately 27% LESS than the Town’s appraisal.
Thanks Betty
Perhaps to state the obvious, it seems rather a stretch to state that the proximity to Grace Farms enhanced the value of the property when selling it required a 27% discount to the assessor’s appraisal and a 39% discount to the original asking price of $5,995,000 (April 10, 2013 – per Zillow). Clearly there have been other factors at work in the New Canaan real estate market, but this is certainly not evidence of what the Mr. Engel suggests.
TC
You hit the nail on the head… a 27% reduction in price from the Assessor’s 2016 appraisal or a 39% reduction from the original asking price may have been driving factor behind the sale.
I have been holding myself”in check” trying not to write about the unlocked cars in driveways in New Canaan. Is it time to evaluate the time and taxpayer money being used to address this issue? Not to mention the police attentiveness to the problem. Maybe tickets for the owners would be a wake up call. I am afraid the next step will be leaving the car running to make it easier to get out of town quicker! We are advertising to all the criminals that this is the town to “shop” for easy pickings. ME
The reason that 1083 Smith Ridge sold was clearly the reduction in
price and the fact that the builder or bank was choking on it for 10yrs-nothing to do with Grace Farms…get real …The arguments that the facility is a financial positive for New Canaan business owners seems
a complete stretch as well-300k in lost property taxes revenue is a lot of ham sandwiches even in New Canaan !