Government

Selectmen Appoint Committee To Study Uses and Capital Needs of New Canaan’s Public Buildings

By |

Town officials on Tuesday dissolved a volunteer committee tasked one year ago with studying New Canaan’s use of Waveny House and appointed what amounts to a successor group that will carry out the same work but more broadly, evaluating and making recommendations on a number of public buildings. The Board of Selectmen during a regular meeting voted 3-0 to form the Town Building Evaluation and Use Committee “to evaluate over a six-month period the uses, physical condition and future capital needs” of structures such as the former Teen Center, Vine Cottage and Irwin Park main house. The newly appointed group will “not have to start from scratch” because enough studies are “in the book to lay the groundwork,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “It’s important that we look at it holistically and everything is on the table. If there is a use that isn’t fitting for a certain building, we will take input from them.

Around Town

‘Let’s Call This What It Really Is’: Neighbors Voice Concerns About Traffic, Expanded Use at Beautification League Property

By |

Saying they’re concerned about new traffic, safety hazards and uses that could result from replacing a nonprofit organization-owned private residence on Chichester Road with a type of clubhouse, neighbors last week voiced opposition to the New Canaan Beautification League’s plans. Though the new structure proposed for the 2.65-acre property at 89 Chichester Road—site of the Lee Garden, open to the public—is far smaller than the Colonial that stands there now, its proposed function as a place for league members to work, gather and use a restroom amounts to an increased use that will only grow with the group’s membership, next-door neighbor Lisa Mackenzie told members of the Planning & Zoning Commission at their April 26 meeting. “We believe it will have a negative impact on our neighborhood and particularly on our safety and property value,” Mackenzie said during a public hearing, held in the Town Meeting Room. “No offense to the league—they do wonderful, wonderful things—but let’s call this what it really is,” Mackenzie said, adding that she envisioned “strangers driving up and down, parking on our property, picking up and dropping off equipment, parking for meetings, making bathroom runs.”

“One could argue that the general public [at Lee Garden] should have access to a bathroom. So why not hide a seasonal port-a-john, near the existing central public parking lot, just as Irwin has done?