Preservation group files 2nd lawsuit over library project
NEW CANAAN — The New Canaan Preservation Alliance has filed another lawsuit against the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission and library, pushing forward with its appeal for full preservation of an antique library structure.
The three groups are scheduled to appear at state Superior Court in Stamford on Jan. 25. The original appeal to preserve the 1913 portion of the New Canaan library was filed last year by town preservationists and Art Kean, owner of the Mobil Station at 16 South Ave. just across from the building.
The latest lawsuit comes after library officials and P&Z commissioners discussed in December moving a portion of the 1913 library to the other side of the library campus as a method of preservation and incorporation into the new project. Since then, New Canaan Preservation Alliance President NeeleBanks Stichnoth said her group was pursuing “all of our options,” and looking to push the appeal process forward.
Stichnoth said she and other preservationists were not happy with what was being presented at the P&Z meeting, asserting the suggestion to move part of the building was “not preservation.”
In the meeting with the library, P&Z Chairman John Goodwin supported the plan laid out by the library, to which Stichnoth believed was just “cutting the building in half” and moving it.
The NCPA’s plan, she said, has consistently been the preserve the 1913 building “in situ,” or in its entirety and leave it where it stands.
While the 1913 library currently sits where a planned green space is expected upon completion of the new library project, the preservation alliance has also drafted plans to incorporate a sliding glass door in the rear of the antique building that would open into the green space and have event lighting for programs.
In the lawsuit, the NCPA states that the P&Z condition approval “is contrary to the Town’s Plan of Conservation and Development” and specifically cited the POCD’s “preserve historic resources” and “preserve and enhance community character” sections.
Library officials declined to comment on the ongoing legal matters.