Chairman's View: Spoiler Alert (April 11, 2019)

Chairman’s View: Spoiler alert

APRIL 11, 2019 BY JOHN ENGEL, CHAIRMAN, TOWN COUNCIL

Spoiler alert: I really like New Canaan’s prospects.

Here are five observations taken from the revaluation, the Town budget, the State election, and the first quarter real estate sales. There is a happy ending.

1. The uncertainty coming from Hartford is probably worse than anything Hartford will actually do to us. We accept a certain amount of pain is coming and we adjust. But when house-hunters from New York say, “I heard the New Canaan train is going away” or “What’s going on with your schools?” we know the headlines are worse than the reality will ever be.

2. New Canaan government is working leaner and smarter. Our budget went down .43%, the greatest cut in a decade, while improving services. We built new playgrounds, turf fields and gas lines while putting solar on town roofs. Our roads will be new, and our schools will remain No. 1. Town Hall will sell antique buildings and find a way to co-invest in the world-class library our residents want. Progress is being made on parking, senior and affordable housing and improved cell service. It’s a great time to live right here.

3. The Waveny Conservancy, Land Trust, Library and Athletic Foundation are examples of the high-energy volunteer organizations we have in New Canaan restoring treasures like Waveny Pond with donations, paying it forward.

4. New Canaan real estate is stable. First quarter house sales are up 20 percent with average prices in the $1.3 millions, (same as 2012-13 and same as Darien). New Canaan is drawing buyers out of Westchester and New York City. (If we speed up the trains, wow, the landscape shifts more dramatically in our favor.) Why is the market recovering from the bottom-up? Because 75 million Baby Boomers are trying to sell their houses to 66 million GenXers (like me, late 30s to early 50s), and there are just not enough of us. Be patient. There are 83 million Millennials (23 to 38 years old) who are starting to discover that Texas and San Francisco are expensive. They have to live somewhere. Why not here? We are downright cheap.

5. New Canaan’s downtown is healthy with less than a 5 perent vacancy rate. A few years ago vacancies were lower and rents unaffordable. Rents are attractive again. P&Z and the new Tourism & Economic Development Committee are responding to changes in the market, giving us the flexibility New Canaan needs to compete in a changing retail environment. Developers respond with exciting new projects all over town. The Grand List is growing again. Consider the new developments built or planned for downtown: Pine Street Concessions, Oxygen, The Merritt Village, a new Post Office, a new Merrill Lynch, new mixed-use on Forest, Locust, Cross and Vitti streets. Soon look to the corner of South and Elm and for more development on Pine Street to keep the next station to heaven vibrant.

Change is hard. For a town of steady habits that fears change New Canaan is adapting well, improving in so many ways, poised to compete for the next decade and beyond.

John Engel is chairman of the Town Council. Chairman’s View represents the views of the chairman and not necessarily any other council members.

Chairman's View: Yes to GreenLink; No to Sharp Elbows - New Canaan Advertiser April 26, 2018

Chairman’s View: Yes to GreenLink; no to ‘sharp elbows’

New 

APRIL 26, 2018 BY NEW CANAAN ADVERTISER

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” –John Muir (1912)

Fifty New Canaan residents gathered yesterday (Sunday) to open a GreenLink trail more than 50 years in the making. Trace it to Susan Bliss’s gift of the 40-acre Nature Center (1960), Land Trust founder Jack Gunther (1967), gifts by the Betts (1974), Hupper (1974) and Fischer (1977) families, Richard Bergman’s GreenLinks vision (1990), Judy Neville’s purchase of 36.2-acre Irwin Park (2004), Chris Schipper’s debut (2012), Tiger Mann’s sidewalks, bridges by Eagle Scout Max Marsh and Anthony Sillo, the New Canaan Community Foundation and the Nature Center.

I recently asked a family why they moved here. It wasn’t excellent schools and low taxes. She said our neighbors are towns of “sharp elbows,” and New Canaan has a reputation as a nicer place to raise a family. Be proud of that distinction. We cannot put a price on it. It took an uninterrupted thread of 50-plus years, neighbor support and the last 100-foot stretch of trail.

Let’s talk sharp elbows: The First District Water Department, answering to the ratepayers of Norwalk, is threatening to demolish the 225-year-old Grupe-Nichols-Brown house in New Canaan on May 13 to avoid paying property taxes to New Canaan. General Manager Dominick DiGangi was quoted saying, “I have to protect my investment. I have ratepayers, I have taxpayers. That is who I answer to.” Demolition to protect an investment? The First District Water Company does not treat New Canaan equally to its Norwalk constituents. We pay higher rates on hydrants, on connections and for the water. New Canaan receives less than one cent per 1,000 gallons pulled from the Milne and Grupe reservoirs, while the Water Department charges around $4 per 1,000 gallons.

Consider the difference between our two water companies: Aquarion is the fourth-largest taxpayer in New Canaan, paying $291,000 in property taxes. The First District Water Department holds 168 acres, extracts about 1 billion gallons of our water, mostly for the benefit of Norwalk residents, and pays only $9,000 per year in taxes. This particular 4-acre parcel has been for sale for three years because it is surplus property, not used for any department purposes. Oh, by the way, if they need it, it will be there, undeveloped, under the careful eye of the Land Trust. 

The Board of Finance and Town Council voted unanimously to support purchasing the property, using all means necessary, at the fair market price. The whole town is committed to this initiative, backed with financing from the Land Trust and our 50-plus-year history of conservation.

New Canaan Advertiser: Moynihan, Engel pen letter to avoid 1802 Cobbler’s house’s demolition (April 12, 2018)

Moynihan, Engel pen letter to avoid 1802 Cobbler’s house’s demolition

APRIL 13, 2018 BY GRACE DUFFIELD

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Town Council Chairman John Engel signed a letter to the First District Water Department formally expressing interest in the cobbler’s house at 1124 Valley Road. 
The letter states its goal to encourage the owners, First District Water, not to demolish the house at the intersection of Valley Road and Benedict Hill, which the letter says belonged to a cobbler when it was built in 1802. 

“The citizens of New Canaan are asking that we work with you to avoid the loss of an historic homestead and facilitate a constructive dialogue to preserve the house and land,” said Engel and Moynihan.

The 4.4 acres of property and house were purchased by the First District Water Department in 2006 at the edge of Grupes Reservoir property, according to the letter. The house “encapsulates the history and heritage of New Canaan and has been identified as one of the most important original structures of the era,” it said. The Federalist style house was originally built for a cobbler, but was then used as a farmhouse on over 200 acres, according to the epistle.

The letter is said to be on behalf of members of the New Canaan Preservation Alliance, New Canaan Historical Society, New Canaan Land Trust and New Canaan Town government including the Board of Selectman, Town Council, the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Conservation Commision.

The New Canaan Land Trust, which holds the 10.5 acres at the north of the property, has “already quietly begun the process of raising money in the hope the property can be purchased,” Engel and Moynihan wrote.

Back on Jan. 11, the Conservation Commission voted to initiate an inquiry to see if other organizations such as land trust enthusiasts, historical preservationists and environmentalists wish to help preserve it.

A ruling by Historic Review Committee delays the demolition by 90 days, which is up May 13.

This house at 1124 Valley Road may be demolished if the Conservation Commission can not find an alternative. — Grace Duffield photo

https://ncadvertiser.com/120369/moynihan-engel-pen-letter-to-avoid-1802-cobblers-houses-demolition/

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Chairman's View: With Compliments and Thanks

By John Engel

Town Council Chairman

Christmas is behind us. Before the New Year’s excitement I’ll take this opportunity to thank some volunteers.

Government

To Bill Walbert and John Sheffield, departing chairmen of the Town Council and Board of Finance. Neither asked for the job of chairman. John is a fiscal conservative: voted against an appropriation for land acquisition, an increase in the treasurer’s salary, and in the tax collection rate. It’s hard to say no, but you were tough. We will consider ourselves privileged to have a similarly involved leader in our next Board of Finance chair. Bill Walbert managed to lead the Town Council without ever saying a cross word. He told me the best part of the chairman’s job was thanking the incredible volunteers who serve this town everyday. Bill inspired this column.

The New Canaan Library

To Bob Butman and his Library board, the greatest example we have of a public-private partnership: The town pays only a fraction of your budget, far less than surrounding towns, and we recognize how deficient your current space is. We’ll ask you to build us a spectacular new library and tell us how you’ll pay for most of it privately (please!). All of New Canaan needs you to succeed. What you propose will last for generations.

The Waveny Park Conservancy

Thank you Bob Seelert and the Conservancy Board for exceeding all expectations in the 50th year of the Lapham gift, polishing the jewel of New Canaan. Trails are done, the cornfield is being renovated, gardens are planned, and restoration of the pond is a certainty after an outstanding gala earlier this month. Bravo.

The New Canaan Land Trust

To Art Berry and the Land Trust Board: Thank you for adding not just six acres in Fowler purchase but a vital public park in a neighborhood that had none. Thank you for linking the Nature Center to Irwin Park, pushing for a Land Acquisition Fund, and making us more appreciative of open space.

The Historical Society

To Mark Markiewicz and the other Historical Society board members working overtime to move beyond your revolutionary roots: Besides the Ice Cream Social, “House of Cars”, “Waveny, Then and Now”, “Art America,” and “New Canaan Modern Architects” in the Carriage Barn, you’re planning an art show on Orientalism, a belly-dancing performance, the Mad for Moderns gala, and the bi-annual Modern house Day Tour (Oct. 20, 2018). There’s a reason to go to 13 Oenoke besides the Advertiser Coffee.