Canoe Brook Move Praised

Two weeks ago Branford First Selectman Unk DaRos met with Board of Education (BOE) Chairman Frank Carrano and Schools Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez. The topic: Moving school headquarters to Canoe Brook Senior Center in the heart of town instead of to the larger Network Office building at 175 N. Main St. Both men seemed open to the idea. 

Last night DaRos went before the full BOE to make his pitch for the smaller, 9,000 square foot Canoe Brook facility as the next home for the central school office. The school system’s prior superintendent, Dr. Kathleen Halligan, had approved Canoe Brook Senior Center as the board’s next destination before she retired last spring. DaRos had relied on her commitment in his plan, a plan Hernandez told the board was first outlined by architects two years ago.

No vote was taken Wednesday night. But the pitch fell on receptive ears.

DaRos went public with his idea for a three-way building swap in June, saying he wanted to find a new home for the seniors. A new senior center had long been on his agenda. To that end, DaRos proposed a swap that would enable the seniors to move from the town-owned Canoe Brook Center on Cherry Hill Road to a one-story building known as the Office Network at 175 N. Main. The Office Network building, 14,000 square feet, is owned by the Giordano family. The BOE would move a central board staff of about 16 to 20 people to Canoe Brook. And the historic brick BOE building, formerly the town’s major post office and a prime piece of real estate across from the town green, would be converted to retail or commercial use by Michael and Vin Giordano. 

Moving the BOE headquarters to Canoe Brook would give the Giordono brothers the ability to develop a key corner property in the heart of town. But the first selectman’s three-way plan went awry in recent months. He had to wait for approval by the Commission of Services for the Elderly. That took awhile. He said he also had to figure out how to deal with Hernandez’s concern that he wanted central headquarters to only move once. Initially the problem was solved by having the BOE move to the Office Network building. But that building was very large. 

Now DaRos had come full circle. He told the full board last night that the costs would be borne by the town. He said he would find the best time for them to move, perhaps in the spring and summer. He suggested strongly that they act quickly. What DaRos wanted was a commitment from the board to move to Canoe Brook. He came close in getting it.

Hernandez, who has studied some of the proposed plans for Canoe Brook, told DaRos there could be a special board meeting held in order to vote on the issue. It was clear from Carrano’s response that no vote would be taken before the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) Tuesday or the RTM’s administrative services committee Monday. The Giordanos have set Jan. 31 as their deadline for consummating the deal, a deal they have put to paper in the form of a real estate agreement DaRos has signed. DaRos said after the meeting he thinks the Giordano deadline could be extended.

“We want to be cooperative,” Carrano said. ​“Today is Wednesday. The board will not be willing to take action without the superintendent’s report.” No vote was taken.

After DaRos gave additional details, including his need to have a monetary figure for renovations in the 2011-12 budget process, which gets underway in February, Hernandez said he would move as quickly as possible to complete his review by the middle of next week. He cautioned it would not have the depth he strives for. 

Both Hernandez and Carrano seemed to like the idea of returning to an historic school site. (Canoe Brook was built in 1898 at a cost of $11,000.) The building might better suit their needs, both in size and location and even color. It is painted yellow.
 
​“I think it is appropriate for you. It is an old school in the center of town. It is a great location for you. I would hope you would send me a go ahead,” DaRos said. 

Before the full Board of Education heard about the Canoe Brook site last night or heard an update on the Indian Neck School as a possible alternative for the senior center, DaRos had signed a real property exchange agreement with the Queach Corporation, the company the Giordano brothers own. DaRos’s action did not sit well with Carrano. Under the agreement, which must be approved by the RTM before it can take effect, the BOE would have a year to leave its current home at 1111 Main St. 

The first proposal drew the ire of several RTM members when they learned the swap contained a sweetheart deal giving Giordano Construction Company the right of first refusal for any renovation over $100,000 at their 175 N. Main St. property. This section is no longer in the contract. But it is not known if the contract still contains the clause requiring the town to collect rents from multiple tenants now renting office suites in the building.

Carrano, who has voiced deep concern about being left out of the process, was again perplexed. He has the statutory right to stay put at 1111 Main if his board says so. He said he did not know DaRos was going to sign off on any agreement with the developer. He has said many times that the BOE will not move until it knows where it is going and when. 

Hernandez concurred. In an earlier interview he said, ​“What would be the permanent home for the Board of Education? Somewhere along the line that idea was lost. “

“I think there are numerous constituent groups that have a stake in this. But we have to look at what is in the best interests of the town. My role as superintendent of schools, when asked to look at potential sites is to look at them critically, to do due diligence on the site. I never said that 175 was ideal for us; in fact, we said publicly the building is a little too big and we would use some of it as common space for common use.”

Hernandez’s tone was conciliatory. He said in an interview that he wanted ​“to be responsive as well as collaborative.”

If the Board of Education decides to accept Canoe Brook it would have to rescind its prior vote to go to 175 N.Main St. Carrano said. The Canoe Brook Senior Center served as a school for many decades. In 1939 there was a bad fire and there was a move to tear it down. ​“But the people of Branford protested,” Jane Bouley, the town historian, said. The building was saved but lost its second floor in the fire. In 1986, when Judy Gott was first selectman, Canoe Brook was renovated for seniors at a cost of $735,000. 

The Giordanos have sought to swap land with the town before. They tried in 1996 when Judy Gott was first selectman and the Board of Selectmen had the power to approve all land transfers and swaps. The Giordanos wanted to put a golf course on the Queach land, but needed town land to do it. Town environmentalists and local Queach neighbors mounted a major effort to stop it because the proposed golf course would disturb wetlands that feed Pisgah Brook and Supply Pond. 

During the golf course controversy, Kurt Schwanfelder, then a member of the RTM, moved to have the RTM have final say over land transfers and swaps. The Rules and Ordinances Committee of the RTM approved the idea. Until then a 2 – 1 vote by the Board of Selectmen (BOS) could effectuate any land change. Under the new town ordinance instituted precisely because of the Giordano golf course case, the RTM voted down the swap in 1998, soon after DaRos first took office. No golf course was ever built. The land was preserved.

Eventually the RTM will get to decide the current Giordano swap, one also approved unanimously by this BOS. John Opie, the Republican Third Selectman, called this swap ​“a no-brainer” and the first and second selectmen agree with him. But whether the RTM will agree to this swap is another question.

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