Government

Skeptical Historical Review Committee Member Calls for Access to Library To Gauge Problems with Facility 

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Saying she didn’t believe that New Canaan Library’s building and systems are failing, a town resident and preservation architect on Tuesday called for the town to direct a municipal committee to gain access to records and study the reported problems. 

A review and assessment by the Historical Review Committee “would provide the town with objective, professional information on the status of the existing facility,” Rose Scott Long-Rothbart told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held in Town Hall. A member of the appointed five-member Committee herself, Long-Rothbart continued, “This information, in conjunction with a full accounting by the library of what has been spent in the last 10 to 15 years on maintaining its facility, will give the taxpayers a better picture of what they are being asked to support.”

She referred to the library’s request for $10 million in town funding for its $30 million rebuilding project, unveiled last week. Plans call for demolition of the current facility, including an original 1913-built fieldstone-exterior section overlooking Main and Cherry Street, to make way for a town green. Long-Rothbart said she and others don’t believe the original structure cannot be incorporated into the library’s plans. “I appreciate being invited by the library to view those plans, although at the eleventh hour,” she said.

Around Town

VIDEO: New Canaan Library Unveils Dramatic Rebuilding Plans

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New Canaan Library on Tuesday unveiled plans for a rebuilt facility that makes dramatically different use of the organization’s gateway block to the downtown and features a glass-and-stone exterior, 300-seat auditorium, rooftop terrace, café, public concourse, fireplace, two large conference rooms and “town green” at the corner of Main and Cherry Streets. Appearing before the Board of Finance ahead of making a formal request for a $10 million town contribution toward the overall $30 million project, library officials described the planned new building as a state-of-the-art facility that opens possibilities in events, programming and gathering for the library and the wider community.  

Library Director Lisa Oldham noted that the real estate and business communities already have voiced support for the project, and that the rebuilt facility is expected to be an asset for New Canaan that draws homebuyers and encourages residents to stay here. She shared projections from a draft economic impact study that the library commissioned the Connecticut Economic Research Council showing “that the library will drive significant new dollars to the local economy, up to $6 million a year in new consumer spending.”

“The town’s critical capital allocation for the library should be viewed as an investment with a clear and quantifiable return in the form of real economic gains that will stimulate our local economy,” Oldham said during the Board’s regular meeting at Town Hall, attended by a standing room-only crowd. 

The library itself has already raised about $15 million toward the project and plans call for a spring 2021 groundbreaking followed by 18 to 24 months of construction. The current building would operate while the new one is built. 

The new 48,000-square-foot building would replace an aging facility with a failing, costly physical plant that hasn’t had a significant renovation in four decades, Oldham said. 

During their presentation to the Board, Oldham and the library’s director of development and marketing, Ellen Crovatto, played a short film that featured 3D renderings of the planned new library’s interior and exterior (see above—it drew loud applause from the room), reviewed the need for a new facility and efforts to solicit input from locals, spotlighted the library’s high community engagement and broke down to-date fundraising successes for the project (including 55-plus gifts of $100,000 or more). 

Board members complimented Oldham and Crovatto on their presentation and plans, which Michael Chen called “mind-blowing.”

“I really think this is a game-changer for the town of New Canaan,” Chen said.

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Letter: Original 1913 Part of New Canaan Library ‘An Icon in Our Community’

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It has come to the attention of a number of concerned citizens of our town that on Tuesday, January 14, 2020, the New Canaan Library will be presenting to the Board of Finance an update to their plan for a new library building as part of a request for funding of same. As a citizen of our town, a user of our library’s services, a former volunteer at the Library and a practicing preservationist and preservation advocate, the fate of the current building, specifically the original landmark 1913 building, has been a concern. I was fortunate and appreciative to be asked to view the library’s plan this past November. Certainly, what has been developed is impressive and could be considered a “gift” to our community. However, as I have gathered for quite some time, there was no inclusion in the plans for the retention of any portion of the existing building including the original building which has been an icon in our community since its inception.

New Canaan Library

Historian and Professor Mark D. Van Ells Speaks at New Canaan Library: America and World War I, A Traveler’s Guide

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More than a century has passed since the beginning of World War I. Often overshadowed by World War II, America’s role in the first World War nonetheless had a great impact on this colossal struggle. Join New Canaan Library in welcoming historian and author Mark D. Van Ells on Monday, January 13, 2020, when he will speak about his book America and World War I, A Traveler’s Guide. The event will take place at 7 p.m. in the Adrian Lamb Room. Please register online at newcanaanlibrary.org. In his comprehensive book, Van Ells maps the journey of the “Doughboy” – as the U.S. soldier of the Great War was known – from the training camps of the United States to the frontlines of Europe.

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Letter: Support New Canaan Library’s ‘Bustling and Vibrant’ Rebuilding Plans

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As New Canaan residents for 25 years and local business owners we are proud to support a new, New Canaan Library. This exciting project will transform our library into a modern, LEED certified, 48,000-square-foot learning and community center right in the heart of town. The building design is a culmination of many years of careful planning and community input and will answer the growing demand for varied and innovative programming and learning opportunities that the old, failing building cannot support. In the modern digital world, libraries have changed or need to change to remain the center of community learning. Libraries are no longer simply a collection of books, but centers for learning supported by educational and cultural programming and the facilities to showcase the programming.