Building Project Veterans Tapped to Start Town Center Planning

Less than a week after First Selectman Jeb Walker announced the launch of an ambitious rethink of municipal buildings and parking along with the library, the Board of Selectmen approved Walker's first four picks to start up the group that will develop a new master plan for New Canaan's Town Center: Jim Beall, Neil Budnick, Mike Hobbs, and Christine Wagner.

The Town Center Planning Group looks a lot like a building committee—Beall, Hobbs, and Wagner are all veterans of other town building committees and Budnick was an executive at MBIA when the company was the bond insurer for the Chunnel, the largest privately funded construction project in history.

But Walker says he picked these four because of, "their willingness to take on this ground breaking effort," as much as for the building project lines on their résumés.

"What is most important [in the group's make-up] is a perception of integrity, non-partisanship," Walker said. "The reason for these four people is that they possess... the ability to get things done."

• Neil Budnick: He worked for MBIA for 23 years, serving as CFO for six of those years and president for three while Eurotunnel dug across the English Channel. He was appointed as an alternate to the Board of Finance in Sept. 2007 and became a regular member in Dec. 2008. As a Board of Finance member he has acted as the liaison to the Fire Commission, which had initially requested in its 2010-2011 budget proposal , which could ultimately become part of the Town Center project.
• Christine Wagner: An engineer by training, she was the chairman of the High School Building Committee, which managed what was arguably the most complex construction project New Canaan has undertaken to date. Walker and others have credited Wagner with keeping the $75 million project on time and within budget despite some significant snags—most notably, the total $14 million reimbursement from the state was jeopardized by a tussle over how some asbestos abatement work was, in the essence of time, awarded as a change order without being publicly bid. Walker says the High School Building Committee's frequent and detailed reports represent the model for reporting on such a project to town government bodies. Hines called Wagner's work on the committee "genius". Since that committee completed its work, Wagner has been an alternate member of the Board of Finance and a member of the New Canaan YMCA Board of Directors.
• Jim Beall: From 2005 to 2009, he chaired the Police & EMS Building Committee, which managed renovations to the Police Station and the construction of a new $2.6 million home for the New Canaan Volunteer Ambulance Corps—the first municipal building in town conceived with LEED certification in mind. He also served on the Lapham Center Building Committee and has most recently been advising the Fire Commission about the steps involved in determining the requirements for a new firehouse. A licensed pilot, Beall also served as a member of the FAA Advisory Committee, which in 2007 helped formulate the town's response to changes to flight plans around New Canaan. 
• Michael Hobbs: Now retired from his career as a local builder of note (he has since handed over the reins of Hobbs, Inc. to his sons), he was also on the Police & EMS Building Committee and is a member of the New Canaan CARES Advisory Board and the Rotary Club. His wife, Hazel, is a member of the Board of Education.

While agreeing that these four appointees are open-minded and agenda-free, Selectman Sally Hines said she hopes the committee will be expanded to include individuals with town planning and demographic expertise. For its part, the New Canaan Library has already examined technological and demographic shifts and trends in library use. "We need some more insight into how the public square has changed," Hines said with regard to the municipal infrastructure piece of the puzzle.

"This is not a building, or even a pre-building committee," Hines said. "They have building committee-type credentials," Hines said. "I don't believe they have any of the expertise of the type I've been talking about."

Walker says the group's charter would enable them to bring in consultants with such expertise. He also plans to draft a fifth member, who he said could be someone with urban planning or marketing chops.

The Board of Selectmen still has to approve the charter for the group. A draft of the charter lists 13 tasks including identifying areas where consultants are needed, "high-level" requirements for upgrades to major town buildings, defining the scope of the project, coming up with cost estimates and phasing plans, and suggesting building committees to carry out those recommendations.

The draft suggests the group could get started in June and take up to a year to develop a master plan for New Canaan's Town Center, with an interim report delivered to town government this coming October.  The New Canaan Library will continue doing its planning independently until the Town Center Planning Group has finished its recommendations.