Spoiler alert. I really like New Canaan’s prospects. Here are 5 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 #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 & 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% with average prices in the $1.3’s, (same as 2012-2013 & same as Darien). New Canaan is drawing buyers out of Westchester and NYC. (If we speed up the trains, wow, the landscape shifts more dramatically in our favor.) Why is the market recovering from the bottom-up? 75 million Baby Boomers are trying to sell their houses to 66 million GenX’ers (like me, late 30’s to early 50’s) and there are just not enough of us. Be patient. There are 83 million Millennials (23-38 yrs 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% vacancy rate. A few years ago vacancies were lower and rents unaffordable. Rents are attractive again. P&Z and the new Tourism & Economic Development Commission 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 & 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.
The Town Council is considering a proposed townwide ban of supermarket plastic bags. Letters are starting to pour in. Supporters of the ban cite the environmental impact. Opponents of a ban say we are chipping away at freedom and personal choice.
Greenwich, Stamford and Westport banned the bags; Darien will be next. Will New Canaan’s decision rest on the more successful write-in campaign? Fewer than 25 people have weighed in. We all want to get greener but do we need more laws? We want to hear your thoughts.
The Budget. The First Selectman declared victory this week, proposing the lowest budget increase in a decade, up 0.16%, with two highlights: One is the way we look at contingency, consolidating department contingencies into one account at the town level. The second is a hiring freeze. Both seem sensible. If passed the mill rate will increase from 16.96 to 18.32 this year. Unfortunately, next year our debt service is forecast to rise and I fear the mill rate may rise with it, making us less competitive with Darien and Westport.
Our Superintendent of Schools brought in a school budget, up 2.05%, and believes we are done because they met Board of Finance standards published in the fall. We are not. Board of Finance models were based on changing assumptions. The whisper number from the Board of Finance and Town Council is we need another $1.5 million (from a schools budget that only rose a modest $1.4 million). Sound impossible? It may be too hard to turn the ship in one year. We did not get to this point in one year and we may not solve it that quickly.
Consider that over the past 13 years spending increased 42% while enrollment was flat. In the last seven years spending increased 24% while enrollment decreased 3%.
Consider that Darien teaches 4,726 students with 767 teachers and administrators whereas New Canaan teaches 4,113 with 749. If we managed to Darien’s ratio of 6.16 we would have 81 fewer staff across our schools.
This is not a criticism of our schools or a statement that their budget is “fat” It is not. It is simply recognition that to meet Board of Finance debt targets of debt service below 10% in a period of rising interest rates we will have to make long-term systemic changes. If zero growth is too much in one year then perhaps a 3-year plan growing 1% per year is something the Board of Education and Board of Finance can agree on together. Such a plan would bring the mill rate back to a level below 18, reassure a jittery housing market, provide less stress to our schools than year by year cuts, meet Board of Finance long-term debt guidance and would be consistent with “stable but slightly decreasing enrollment” projections from our demographer.
Chairman’s View represents the views of the Town Council chairman and not necessarily those of any other Town Council member.
The brick barn at Richmond Hill Road and Mead Park.— Greg Reilly photo
Even though the Town Council had no authority to take any action, they spent an hour-and-a-half of their four-hour meeting Wednesday night revisiting the pros and cons of the plan to open up the vista to Mead Park by removing the decrepit brick barn on Richmond Hill Road.
“The Town Council cannot rescind money,” Council Chairman John Engel told his colleagues and the audience of about 40 citizens, referring to the budget allocation the Council authorized in May for demolition of the brick barn. “Once we approve money we don’t take it back.”
He said the reason for that is to avoid any appearance or practice of overtaxing people and then holding onto the money.
Furthermore, Engel told the meeting, “We are not a land use authority.”
The Town of New Canaan, which is the owner of the brick barn at the north end of the Town’s Mead Park, has applied to its Building Department for a demolition permit, which may be approved around Oct. 25 at the end of a 90-day waiting period set by the Historical Review Committee. The waiting period allows for parties to come forward with alternative plans to demolition of buildings 50 years old or older.
“Ultimately the decision is for the Board of Selectmen to spend the money allocated” for the demolition, Engel said. “We don’t have a vote.”
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan sat through the Council meeting including a presentation made to the Council by the New Canaan Preservation Alliance that wants to lease the Mead Park barn, finance and conduct restoration, and then sublease it to non-profit organizations. After the meeting Moynihan told reporters, “Nothing is changing.”
In other words, the plan to demolish remains in place, Moynihan confirmed the day after the meeting.
Closure
Engel said he was asked by multiple fellow council members before the meeting, Steve Karl among them, why the brick barn was on the agenda since a decision was made in May and no action may be taken by the Council at this time. Engel told the meeting that is was important to have the group make a presentation and to “get some closure.”
The building has been unused for at least 20 years, and the Town Council in 2010 voted to demolish the building. At that time costs to demolish were reportedly more than $200,000 — more than the Town wanted to spend. Presently the Town has a cost estimate of $65,000, and that is what has been authorized.
New preservation plan
The restoration plan presented by New Canaan Preservation Alliance (NCPA) Co-Founder Robin Beckett and board members Charles Robinson, Carl Rothbart and Rose Scott Long Rothbart calls for the Town to agree to a long-term lease of the barn to NCPA, and NCPA then conducting a four-year restoration plan with estimated hard costs of $350,000. Additional costs for fees and services would be donated by NCPA board member who are professionals.
The NCPA’s proposed source of funds would be $262,500 from a series of $50,000 grants from the Historic Restoration Fund at the State Historic Preservation Fund and a tax credit program. The balance of $87,500 is proposed to be paid by NCPA, and Beckett told the meeting that they have “a little more than half” of that the amount now in hand.
The NCPA proposal calls for a four-year project that would include site cleanup, hazardous material remediation, restoring original materials, replacing missing materials, full restoration of interior and exterior walls, floors and ceilings, and more.
Yet another part of NCPA’s offer, which is conditioned upon their plan being adopted, is to help the Town learn how to get building rehabilitation grants from various sources for Town projects coming up in the future.
Robinson urged the Council to eliminate the dollars for demolition and give an ok for what he called a “reasonable, feasible, prudent alternative to demolition.” He said also that NCPA has a bona fide tenant lined up.
During his pitch to the meeting, Robinson used a rhyming term meant to entice the Council, but the team of presenters later took it back. Robinson said the Town should allow NCPA to turn what is now a “distraction” into an “attraction.”
Distraction
The term “attraction” raised objections by at least two speakers who said it is not a good idea to attract more people to that building, which is separated from Richmond Hill Road by only a sidewalk.
A resident of 71 Richmond Hill who spoke to the meeting said the street already has a lot of traffic with speeding and people passing school buses. More traffic is not desired.
Jack Flinn of 123 Richmond Hill, who happens to be also a Planning and Zoning commissioner, said the Town would never build a building like the barn where it is in a residential neighborhood on one side with a park on the other. Attracting people to the building, for example if used by non-profits, is not what he would like to see. He suggested that people who want to invest in the building can move it to another location in town.
Later in the meeting the presenters said what they meant to convey with their wording is their intent to the building and make it “attractive,” not an attraction.
Embellishing that point, one of the public speakers, a resident name Jennifer Frazier who said she has a degree in architectural history, said that a restored structure could provide “sparkle” and improve the neighborhood.
Speakers split
In total, there were 15 speakers who addressed the Town Council about the Mead Park barn. Eight speakers were opposed to the planned demolition. Four of them were the NCPA presenters, one was another co-founder of the NCPA, Mimi Findlay, and three were general residents.
Seven speakers favored the Town’s plan to demolish the barn. Amy Murphy Carroll, a resident who is also a member of the Board of Finance and a past co-chairman of the Building Evaluation and Use Committee, said she supports “what has been approved — the demolition.”
She said that projects that come to the Town “fully funded, money in hand” might be considered; “I don’t see money in hand.”
The Town has an extensive capital plant, she said, and “another building with another lease” is not what the Town needs.
Even if the building were restored it would still block the vista into the park, Carroll said.
Parks and Recreation Commissioner Francesca Segalas spoke for the commission: “We support demolition,” she said. “We’ve been doing a lot of improvements in Mead Park” and do not want the brick barn in the middle of the view to the pond.
Others in support of the Town’s plan to demolish the barn included Laszlo Papp, who pointed out that he has worked long and hard for historic preservation in New Canaan as a chairman and member of the Planning and Zoning Commission. He said that a building does not have to be very special to be on the state’s Register of Historic Places, and “this building does not rise to the level of the architecture being significant.”
“No responsible Town body can or should approve a presentation like this,” Papp said. “There is nothing on the table. The financing is all promises.”
“Good will was there; help was there,” he said of the NCPA, but he said that in the end maintenance would be done by taxpayers.
The president of the condominium association at 123 Richmond Hill Road, a woman named Kim, said she wants the brick barn to be gone because its presence “is taking away from the park and home values.”
“I appreciate the plan, but it is late,” she said. She agrees with Papp by expecting that at some point in the future the liability to maintain the building will fall back to the Town.
Adding to the voices of those opposed to the demolition were Sarah Robinson and Peter Hanson. Said Sarah: “I don’t understand why the Town would want to spend $65,000 to take down a building when they have a dedicated group to improve and finance it with groups interested in renting.”
“As a taxpayer, I don’t want $65,000 spent to demolish that building,” she said.
Hanson expressed this thanks to fellow citizens in the past who put their energy into restoring Town buildings that fell into disrepair. He named the Powerhouse Theatre and Carriage Barn in Waveny Park and Gores Pavilion in Irwin Park as properties that some wanted to tear down but were eventually restored for the good of the town.
As resigned as Chairman Engel was in being without the power to take action at this time, he said, “We’re still trying to figure out preservation…. The Town benefited today from this presentation.”
In his biweekly column in the Advertiser, Chairman John Engel suggested that nothing is wrong with the condo revaluation, but rather he questions if our zoning laws “adequately address an affordable condominium solution.” Having more than 30 years of involvement with our zoning laws, I can state that the Planning & Zoning Commission did and does exactly that. If I may go back a few years: In the 1970s P&Z noticed that the two-family zone does not satisfy the needs and requirements of the citizens. We introduced a cluster zoning, called “Alternate Development” which than evolved into multifamily, later also to apartment zoning. This was the very first “condo” zoning in the area, later followed by other towns.
Back to Mr. Engel’s argument that “the current revaluation is accurate”. He quotes valid statistics that 2018 condos sold for $417 per foot,versus $420 per foot five years ago. This means that in 5 years average condo prices went down 1% and not up 8% to 10% as the revaluation stated. This is very close to the real estate report that the average condo sales price of $ 807,604 in 2014 went down to $ 778,962 in 2018. This proves that the condo revaluation is anything but “accurate.”
What we need is a “second opinion” for a fair condominium valuation!
This letter is in response to the Setting Priorities opinion column by John Engel, recently published in the New Canaan Advertiser. We appreciate the early support for the Library that John is voicing in his column. We expect the new library to make a major contribution to the vitality of town life and the local economy, and we are grateful that the Town has an earmarked funds for this project from the start.
We are humbled by the initial strong showing of support and enthusiasm from our donors. It is our aim to raise the majority of funding for this project from private resources.
The Library’s mission has not changed — this new building will meet the clear demand for our services which are now severely constrained by the failing structure we inhabit.
We are confident that beyond “thinking big,” we are thinking smart. We believe this project is a win for the whole community, an investment in the future. As the last among our Fairfield County peer towns to build or renovate their library, we are long overdue. We are glad that Town recognizes the catalytic effect their investment will have.
John Engel is this year’s ‘Realtor Citizen’ for his service to the Town of New Canaan. The New Canaan Board of Realtors’ Realtor Citizen of the Year is John Engel, center, with with board President Janis Hennessy, left, and realtor Jeanne Rozel.
John Engel has been selected Realtor Citizen of the Year for 2018 by the New Canaan Board of Realtors. The award is given to a New Canaan Realtor who exemplifies the qualities of professionalism, ethics, and willingness to devote time and energy to the real estate community and to the community at large, according to the New Canaan Board.
“Halstead is proud to have John Engel on its team of professionals, and his service to our community is just exceptional,” said Sharon Daley, Executive Director of Sales for Halstead New Canaan, according to the announcement.
Engel is an award-winning agent with Halstead, where he is part of the Engel Team that includes his mother Susan, a previous winner of New Canaan’s Realtor Citizen of the Year award.
He has been a member of the New Canaan Town Council since 2011 and was elected chairman of the Council in 2017. He has been a board member of the New Canaan Land Trust since 2013, is a board member of Staying Put in New Canaan and an advisory board member for the New Canaan Historical Society. He is also a long-time member and past president of the New Canaan Rotary Club, was a board member for the New Canaan Outback Teen Center, and was on the New Canaan Zoning Board of Appeals from 2007 to 2011.
Engel who lives in New Canaan with his wife and four children, was a captain in the U.S. Army and served in the Persian Gulf War. He is a member of the New Canaan Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 653.
Realtor Jeanne Rozel, a past president of the New Canaan Board of Realtors said in the release, “I worked with him on the board of appeals and I know what he has done for the town, so I’m glad that he’s being recognized for all he does for people.”
