Bill Oestmann

Town Approves $6,250 Emergency Pump Repair at Playhouse

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The Board of Selectmen last week approved $6,250 for the emergency repair of a circulator pump at The Playhouse on Elm Street. The pump, one of three in the basement of the 1923 building, circulates hot water throughout the Playhouse for its heat, according to Bill Oestmann, superintendent of building in the New Canaan Department of Public Works. On a Saturday just before the COVID-19 public health emergency unfolded, a crew entered the building to swap things around and get heat back into the theater, Oestmann told the selectmen during their April 7 meeting, held via videoconference. 

“In doing so, I had to take one of the pumps from an upper level offline, and use it,” Oestmann said. “These pumps are [in a] really tough environment down there. They are all leaking a little bit and they’re very, very old.”

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan had already approved the payment to New Canaan-based Modern Plumbing & Heating for the work on an emergency basis.

0684-Radi0

0684-Radi0: The Future of The Playhouse

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In this week’s installment of our free weekly podcast, 0684-Radi0 (subscribe here in iTunes) we take a closer look at the Town Council’s decision last week to remove funding for a $225,000 roof replacement at The Playhouse. We interview Beth Jones, a fire commissioner and former selectman who sat on the town-appointed Playhouse Committee and also helped organize a League of Women Voters forum on the Elm Street building’s future four years ago, when public works officials let it be known that the structure had $2.5 million in capital needs. This week’s podcast is sponsored by STAR Inc., Lighting the Way, serving our neighbors in New Canaan and surrounding towns who have intellectual disabilities and their families since 1952. STAR invites the whole community to join them at their annual “Family Fun Day Walk and 5K Run” at Sherwood Island on Sunday, May 5. Sign up here.

Government

Town Attorney Warns of Unforeseen Restrictions Regarding Popular Pedestrian Alley

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Though some are eager to preserve forever a frequently used pedestrian alley downtown, officials say, the town attorney is warning that doing so through an easement could hamstring future municipal leaders. The alley that runs alongside the Playhouse and Le Pain Quotidien, connecting Elm Street to the parking lots behind it, is town-owned property. Though it could be transferred into a trust and then placed under an easement that would guarantee it serves as a pedestrian walkway in perpetuity, Town Attorney Ira bloom is urging town officials to consider that doing so could restrict future generations in unforeseen ways, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said. Asked by a committee of the Planning & Zoning Commission to look into the possibility of an easement, Moynihan said he called on Bloom to investigate it. 

“Some people want to protect it in perpetuity,” Moynihan said. “The counter argument is that you don’t want to restrict future generations of leaders about what to do 100 years from now.”

Government

Public Buildings InfoSheet: The Playhouse

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[Editor’s Note: The following has been prepared in advance of the “Forum on Public Buildings.”]

Built: 1923, Colonial Revival
Square footage: 8,560
Current uses: Movie theater with florist on ground floor, two nonprofit organizations on second floor. The town currently nets $86,000 per year in rent, with no consideration of capital costs. Committee recommendations: Given the terms of the current lease, which runs through 2022, with an option to renew for five additional years, minimize capital expenses for the building. Relevant articles: Committee Mulls Whether Town Should Continue As Owner of Playhouse (November 2017), Officials: Bow Tie Cinemas Interested in Restoring, Possibly Purchasing New Canaan Playhouse (January 2017), ‘There’s a Fine Line Between Charming and Outdated’: Playhouse Committee Convenes First Meeting (October 2015), ‘It’s Part of Why People Come to This Town’: Officials Discuss Future of New Canaan Playhouse (April 2015), New Canaan Playhouse: Private Owner Would Have More Flexibility in ADA Compliance (March 2015)

Submitted by Lesley Cousley:

Built in 1923 and designed by New Canaan architect Calvin E. Kiessling, this was the first building of the Village Improvement Company, in part of its planned development of Elm Street, then known as Railroad Avenue. The Colonial Revival style building helped set the style for development downtown.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The gallery for this week’s “Did You Hear … ?” features interior photos from rental units at the newly built mixed-use building at 16 Cross St. in New Canaan, “The Crossing.”

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The Town Council on Wednesday night voted 12-0 in favor of an operating budget of $148,136,106 for fiscal year 2018. The overall figure and amount allocated to the Board of Education ($87,618,405) are the same as had been approved by the Board of Finance. The schools are seeing an approximately 1.6 percent year-over-year increase, while the overall operating budget is going up 2.6 percent.