Eco Man — Work within existing footprints for LEED certification

New Canaan Advertiser

Written by Richard M. Stowe
Thursday, 10 June 2010 10:06

All the towns’ players are abuzz about the concept of a “village common” as part of an overall master plan which among other things resuscitates a plan to remodel and expand Town Hall. The linchpin for a village common would be a crosstown move for the New Canaan Library from Main Street to Park Street.

I will look at this ersatz concept, which could include housing the library in a LEED-certified building on top of a decked parking structure behind Town Hall, and offer a green, livable streets alternative. The timing to announce the plan to build decked parking, the penultimate structural symbol of automobile addiction, couldn’t be more inopportune as the largest oil spill in United States history unfolds in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Advertiser reported on the 1913 library’s deteriorating condition, “the current library… as [Town Council member Steve] Karl described, is crumbling from within.”

New Canaan doesn’t need an insular common. The pricey plan may create a nightmare on Elm Street by upsetting downtown’s delicate balance.

Since a majority of town residents live south of Elm Street, the level of service at downtown signalized intersections will likely deteriorate with a “commons” sited north of Elm. Increases in traffic and noise will reduce the quality of life in the historic district.

Pricing, not supply, is the best way to address parking demand. Revenue from market-priced curb parking can fund transportation demand management toolbox techniques, such as parking cash-out and designing bicycle-friendly environments.

To learn what may go wrong, let’s evaluate downtown’s recent history. The 1972 Cherry Street extension, designed to speed traffic through downtown, effectively separated the venerable library and Center School buildings from downtown and triggered commercial space construction, subject to minimum parking requirements. The 1979 library expansion bastardized the existing historic structure. The 1984 razing of Center School was truly a tragedy in which the town “paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

A more prudent strategy would have allowed for adaptive re-use of Center School. Constructing the odd-looking teen center where town garages once stood was a logistics blunder. That space is needed for a LEED Platinum Town Hall annex with school administration offices in lieu of expanding Town Hall.

The U.S. Green Building Council now encourages LEED for Existing Buildings certification. Renovate Town Hall to LEED Platinum within the “existing footprint.”

To improve the library, raze the 1979 addition, determine how much of the pre-1979 library building to retain. Restore the library (LEED Platinum) as quiet space with books, magazines and newspapers. Expand parking within the 1979 footprint. Convert the Cherry Street egress from a driveway to a “walkway.”

Directly across in Morse Court, construct a two-story LEED Platinum library annex with technology center, children’s activity room, teen study space, meeting rooms and teen center.

The annex would border the Cherry Street sidewalk from Main Street to the Mobil station property line, or to South Avenue. A fully glazed south-facing wall will provide daylight, and in colder months passive solar heat. A traffic-calming “speed table” spanning Cherry Street would connect the “walkway” to the library annex pedestrian entrance.

With its strategic location in Morse Court, the annex will serve as an anchor to enhance business downtown.

Richard Stowe is president of the New Canaan Environmental Group He may be reached at bike.rail.politics@gmail.com .