Letter: Cos Cob Resident 'Deeply Concerned' About Synagogue Proposal

Stephanie November 27, 2012 at 04:34 pm

I recently wrote a letter to Robert Birnbaum President of GRS. In my letter, I stated I was flabbergasted at the suggestion that the organization thinks this will not add traffic to Valleywood, Osee or Orchard. We have speed humps on Valleywood to slow & discourage the traffic already? GRS stated this project will add value to the surrounding area. Really? Placing a 20,000sf multi-use facility w/parking for 100 cars, near homes 1200-1800sf w/ 1 (sometimes 2 car) garages, you must be kidding me. Add value, how? This will lower values on Orchard, Valleywood & Osee. So much for the close knit, terrific neighborhood...they’ve sent those terms right out the window! I am appalled that residents were not notified of this, & we had to learn about it on our own, through word-of-mouth, email & petitions. How many residents were notified? The ones on either side of 96 or 92 Orchard, one side of 22 Osee (since the other side mentioned she received no notice)? Birnbaum stated in his reply “Our objective is to be cooperative and respectful, and end up with a design that fits well with the neighborhood. These are early days in the design process. I've been in contact with some neighbors already, some who are welcoming, and some who have specific design or engineering concerns (which we will relay to our architect and engineer when hired).” I appreciate his response, but question who he will speak with in the neighborhood. He certainly has not been forthcoming.
Stephanie A., Cos Cob

Mike Freiheit November 27, 2012 at 07:29 pm

Beyond the extremely obvious misuse of the space, increased traffic and noise, and a project virtually no one in the area wants, this is a case of pure greed on the part of a few landowners and real estate agents (and throw in the inevitable wasted legal fees). Without any profit motive, none of this unfortunate event takes place.
It is sad that a neighborhood built through generations of residents will be slowly dismantled by a few people making a few bucks. Once again proving that money doesn't buy class. Mike F

Jonathan Perloe November 28, 2012 at 02:20 am

I have been following the discussion on the plan for GRS to relocate to Orchard Street. I can certainly understand why people adjacent and near to the property would have concerns, and I respect those concerns. And there certainly should be an airing of those concerns and discussion with GRS officials (as there has been).
That said, there have been lots of accusations about the impact this will have on the broader neighborhood that are not grounded in fact. Mr. Birnbaum's traffic projections, based on data, do not indicate any substantial increase in traffic. It certainly is going to be far, far less than than occurs during school hours, and it occurs only a couple of times a week. As a point of reference, I haven't noticed a single person mention a similar traffic impact from Trinity Church's Sunday morning services which take place just down the street at Central Middle School. Why is that? There are also assertions that GRS will lower property values. Has anybody done any analysis to demonstrate that religious institutions located in Greenwich residential areas result in lower property values (including in our own neighborhood, Greenwich Baptist Church)? If so, let's see it so that we're dealing with facts, not fear. What evidence is there that GRS will destroy wetlands? What rationale is there to believe it will circumvent a very rigorous P&Z process? By all means, let's have a discussion and air concerns. But let's keep it civil and stick to facts.

Barbara Heins (Editor) November 28, 2012 at 03:54 am

The Greenwich Planing & Zoning Commission has extended its deadline for making a decision on whether to grant the Caravellas permission to realign property lines. If OK'd, this is the 1st step the Greenwich Reform Synagogue, which it has said it is, is seeking to build a new house of worship in the neighborhood. More details coming on Greenwich Patch. Stay tuned

anthony giapado November 28, 2012 at 05:25 am

Sarah- I see you are a writer, not just of novels but you write for www.ctnewsjunkie.com. Interesting how you recently wrote a VERY negative article about Mitt Romney's loss in the elections and you basically ripped apart the Republicans..yet you thought nothing of asking your LOCAL Republican officials to defend your position on the GRS issue at the town hall meeting tonight. You are a total self serving hypocrite. It's similar to your comments about your being a practicing Jew and how this isn't about religion (and personally, I don't think it is) yet your novel is entitled "CONFESSIONS OF A CLOSET CATHOLIC." Make up your mind- you are disgraceful.

Mike Infante November 29, 2012 at 08:05 pm

In the interest of full disclosure, I submit that I’ve known the Caravellas for quite some time; if you’re reading this the chances are that you have also. A great deal of ink has already been spilt on the proposed merits (or apocalyptic consequences) of Cos Cob’s incorporation of the Greenwich Reform Synagogue (GRS) and I hold out little hope that my opinion will change yours. Personally, I am very surprised by the hardline characterization of Cos Cob as strictly “residential” community, as this has never been my experience.
Nearly 20 years ago my family moved here from Brooklyn in search of great public schools and in fear perhaps, of an utterly unfamiliar landscape (as if to emphasize the point our address was to be “Suburban” Avenue) and the reputedly austere New England manner. We found our concerns to be unfounded however, as we were welcomed to an open and diverse community with a sense of cohesion and local pride, that I’d argue to be the envy of Greenwich’s many “boroughs.” We arrived to find Cos Cob as it is and always has been; a vibrant amalgam of civic, commercial, residential and yes, religious institutions.

Mike Infante November 29, 2012 at 08:06 pm

Growing up between Cos Cob School and Cos Cob Library I spent summers playing in the shelter of our school’s cul-de-sac and passed afterschool evenings amongst the wealth of children’s books available in our library. I walk to play tennis at Lockland Avenue and bocce at Bible Street, I walk to some of Connecticut’s best short-order restaurants and if ever there was a fire I could call Cos Cob Station without even the benefit of a phone! My house is utterly engulfed by non-residential establishments, it has no private lake or half-mile driveway but I wouldn’t trade it for any backcountry mansion you’d offer me.
Cos Cob is not a population cluster of woodsy seclusion, even if a vocal minority might prefer that it were. Cos Cob (neither a city nor a town) is a community in the most literal sense of the word. If it turns out that inclusion of a house of worship, is in someway antithetical to the “fabric” of this community then I confess I’m not so sure what that fabric is made of. Regrettably, I’ve taken to wondering about that a lot lately.

Mike Infante November 29, 2012 at 08:06 pm

Later this week Cos Cob will hold it’s first annual Winter’s Eve Festival. The festival, described as a “community building event” founded to “give back” and “support the needs of our community” has been made possible by the tireless efforts and unheralded generosity of Randy and his wife Kim. Meanwhile the anti-GRS effort is engaged in an ill-conceived local boycott (as if this lost business would somehow diminish his imperative to sell) and a campaign of public slander, the contents of which will not be dignified by duplication in this space. In a rush to judgment and submission to the type of mob mentality that represents the very worst of small town America, many opponents of the GRS transaction have reverted to a pettiness unbecoming of a thoughtful and organized citizenry.

Mike Infante November 29, 2012 at 08:07 pm

To be clear, I am a supporter of the GRS in Cos Cob, but I am also a supporter of the right to dissenting opinion, of assembly and community action. It is cruelty and fickleness, hostility and small-minded mudslinging by which I cannot abide. Between Randy and his father Lou (a man who has literally dedicated his life to Cos Cob) the Caravellas have been serving the community for 60 years now. Instrumental in countless charitable endeavors, unwaveringly magnanimous and fiercely loyal to the neighborhood, you’d have thought them entitled to benefit of the doubt. It turns out you’d be mistaken. As long time friends and neighbors make clear their priority: “what have you done for me lately,” those purportedly concerned with traffic have gridlocked the low road to its shoulders. In all this conjecture and rhetoric there has been a lot of talk about the “true nature” of Cos Cob. The conversation has been incredibly revealing.