We, the individuals and families of New Canaan, enthusiastically support the swift approval of the plans for the brand-new New Canaan Library and green.

We are families with children who will thrive in a significantly expanded Children’s Library and new children’s garden. 

We are real estate agents who know the new Library will be a timeless, invaluable institution that welcomes new families to this town, a better reflection of New Canaan’s centuries-old commitment to learning, creativity, and community.

We are people with disabilities who wish for, at long last, a more accessible library.

We are owners of town businesses who look forward to the increase in visitors attracted by the library and green. 

We are the parents of middle- and high-school students who need a safe, in-town space to spend time with their friends after school. 

We are private donors who have previously expressed our faith in the Library, its comprehensive community studies, and its current plans, to the tune of nearly 17 million dollars.

We are lifelong believers in the printed word, and we are equally enthusiastic about the library’s brand-new features: the state-of-the-art maker lab. The teaching kitchen. The beautiful, much-needed Library green.

We are small business owners who need flexible co-working spaces in which to grow our ideas.

We are creative people who seek inspiration. 

We are cultural enthusiasts who just can’t wait to see live music, theater, and performance on the green.

We are senior citizens, looking for a place to gather that creates a vibrant sense of community and is walkable from downtown. 

Above all else, we are a community who believes in New Canaan’s future, and we urge you not to let it be derailed by those thinking only of its past.

While we have deep respect for our town’s 300-year history, we believe that the 1913 library building has served the community to the very end of its safety and utility. The building currently contains lead and asbestos, and the price tag to rehabilitate and rebuild it is between 3-4 million dollars. For 1,300 square feet. 

We understand that rebuilding this structure would eliminate the Library Green and integrated design, and is economically impractical at best. While former residents may be sentimental about their memories of the Library, the truth is that towns are living, breathing entities with needs that change  and outgrow the buildings designed to contain them.

The truth is that the Preservation Alliance’s (unfunded) plan is to restore the building and then lease it out to a commercial tenant. This doesn’t improve upon our town’s character. Nor does it bear out financially.

At the end of the day, a library is more than its walls, its façade or its landscaping. A library is an institution built around people. Around thousands of volunteers who have given their time to its mission and this design. Around thousands of children whose imagination and success are fueled by the books, programs, and services it contains. It’s also built on the strength of a multigenerational group of donors who have expressed their belief in this plan by giving generously.

And it is us, the undersigned. People who currently live in New Canaan, looking to the horizon for a building that will bear witness to the next great era for our cherished town.