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New Canaan Nature Center outlines three-phase campus plan, pond dredge and greenhouse changes
Summary
Bill Flynn, executive director of the New Canaan Nature Center, presented a multi‑phase campus plan that includes a pond dredge this summer, greenhouse repurposing and a proposed capital campaign for a larger, multiuse greenhouse/education building; preschool and summer camp are the center’s major revenue sources.
Bill Flynn, executive director of the New Canaan Nature Center, briefed commissioners on a three‑phase campus plan and near-term projects at the Nature Center, which the association operates in partnership with the town.
Flynn said preschool and summer camp programs generate about 70 percent of the center's earned revenue, with preschool alone accounting for about 44 percent. He described three phases of work: classroom reconfiguration in the Education Building to add usable classroom space (phase one), a smaller, relocated propagation greenhouse and horticulture center (phase two), and a larger multiuse greenhouse/education building that would require a capital campaign and potential town participation (phase three).
Flynn said Kiwanis Pond is scheduled for dredging this summer, with bids and wetlands permitting in progress; town-contracted work will aim for an August window to avoid peak programming. He said project planners hope to reuse dredged silt on a nearby undesirable field to create improved native seeding. Flynn also said the Audubon House outbuilding with a failed roof contains environmental hazards that require remediation and removal during a school break.
On invasive-plant management, Flynn described ongoing master-plan work with Larry Weiner Associates, solarization and targeted plantings and mentioned possible use of goats and fencing for invasives removal. He asked commissioners to schedule a walking tour of the campus this spring to view project sites.
Flynn said the large greenhouse on site is oversized and underutilized and recommended repurposing it as a flexible, multiuse event and education space while installing a smaller propagation greenhouse near the cottage for native-seed propagation and horticulture education. The larger greenhouse plan would be part of a capital campaign and the Nature Center is asking for town participation in that phase.
Commissioners thanked Flynn and expressed support for a site tour and for plans that prioritize preschool capacity and sustainable planting choices. No formal town funding request was voted on at the meeting; Flynn said some projects will be funded by the Nature Center while others will seek town participation and grant support.
