West Hartford Children's Museum's Future Slowly Evolves

WEST HARTFORD, CT — The short-term future of the beloved Children's Museum in West Hartford and its new temporary site has been finalized by the town's top land-use board.

Meanwhile, the town has also received plans to build a 172-unit apartment building at the soon-to-be former location of the museum.

The Kingswood-Oxford School, a private school in town, has hosted the museum at 950 Trout Brook Drive for about 65 years.

But it is selling the site to a New York City-based developer, which will construct the apartment building.

That has forced the Children's Museum of West Hartford to exit the current site by Sept. 3, with the search ongoing for a permanent site.

It's hoped the temporary location will open in early October.

According to the museum's website, the final day for general admission to the current location is Saturday, Sept. 3.

On Aug. 8, the West Hartford Plan & Zoning Commission voted 4-0 to approve the museum's temporary relocation to The Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Drive, West Hartford.

The vote was for a special permit allowing the museum to utilize 8,146 square feet of unused preschool space at the facility.

The temporary museum will be on the first floor of the site.

Following a public hearing, which was closed Aug. 8, the PZC voted to approve the relocation pending multiple conditions, including:

• The new museum site's operating hours be 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays, Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m.; and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the museum closed during Saturday Sabbath services and High Holidays.

• Museum parking be limited to a specific designated area on the site.

• The site plan approval be valid for five years as the museum searches and looks for a new, permanent site.

While that situation was finalized by the PZC, its members Aug. 8 also briefly discussed a recently filed application before the town's inland wetlands and watercourses agency, which in West Hartford is constituted by the existing PZC.

In its capacity as the IWWA, board members did not take any action on the application and it tabled any further discussion to the PZC/IWWA's meeting Sept. 7.

The application for the 172-unit apartment building was submitted by West Hartford Partners LLC out of New York, N.Y., which is developing the site.

According to the application, plans call for the existing museum site to be demolished with project plans within 5,750 square feet of land in an "upland review area" near Trout Brook, which is why the IWWC needs to act on the permit.

Then, other town land-use boards will be required to act on the project.

According to the project's narrative released by the town, "there are no wetlands on the property and there will be no direct impacts to any wetland areas."

The project is expected to include drainage improvements expected to, actually, improve the water quality of the brook.

The museum's iconic "Conny" the whale statue, likely, will have to relocate away from the museum, with plans reportedly calling for it to go across the street at a public hiking trail.

For the minutes of the Aug. 8 West Hartford PZC/IWWA meeting, click on this link.

For the IWWA application for the new apartment building project, click on this link.

For the Aug. 8 West Hartford PZC/IWWA meeting agenda, which includes several links to project documents for both the temporary museum site and the apartment proposal, click here.

For more information on The Children's Museum in West Hartford, click on this link.

From June: "West Hartford's Children's Museum Seeks Temporary Site"