Bill Oestmann

‘What About Us?’: Devereaux Raises Questions About Vine Cottage Sale 

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Selectman Kit Devereaux last week questioned just who in town government would be able to see proposals from those interested in purchasing a prominent town-owned building on Main Street. The Board of Selectmen voted 2-1 last month to approve a request for proposals or ‘RFP’ for Vine Cottage, with Devereaux opposing the move and Selectman Nick Williams and First Selectman Kevin Moynihan in favor. During the Board’s regular meeting July 9, Devereaux asked who would be able to see the RFP responses. When Moynihan said it would probably be himself, Director of Public Works Tiger Mann, Buildings Superintendent Bill Oestmann, Devereaux asked, “What about us?” She referred to herself and Williams. 

“There might be some benefit in us seeing the ones that come in, comparatively,” she said at the meeting, held in Town Hall.

Bill Oestmann

Selectmen Vote 3-0 To Keep Nature Center Animals Cool

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Municipal officials on Tuesday approved an approximately $9,000 contract with a Shelton-based company to install equipment designed to keep cool several animals who live in a town-owned building operated by a venerable nonprofit organization on Oenoke Ridge Road. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of the $9,430 contract with M.A. Garamella, a figure that includes $1,230 in contingency funds. 

The new system at the New Canaan Nature Center Animal Care Building will replace a 20-year-old existing air conditioning unit that had failed, according to Bill Oestmann, the buildings superintendent with the New Canaan Department of Public Works. The project was on DPW’s “list to replace this year,” he said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. The DPW intends to replace the old unit with an air conditioning heat pump which Oestmann said will provide a number of benefits—for example, if the building’s boiler fails, “the heat pump can keep enough heat going to protect the building,” he said. “[It will] also help with the reptiles—when you lose heat in the building you’ve got to move all the animals out,” Oestmann said. 

First Selectman Kevin Moyinhan and Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams voted in favor of the contract.

Government

Solar Power Systems To Be Installed at Four Town Buildings 

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday unanimously approved two contracts that will see solar power systems installed on town buildings in New Canaan for the first time. If all goes as planned, the new photovoltaic or ‘PV’ systems could be up and running at Town Hall, the Animal Care building at the New Canaan Nature Center, Waveny Pool house and Highway Department garage prior to next winter, officials said at the selectmen’s regular meeting. “This is our first foray into solar and I am very excited to get this project launched,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. Moynihan and Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams voted 3-0 in favor of a $530,000 contract with Hartford-based Northeast Smart Energy to install the PV systems and with Norwalk-based MHR Development, which drew up the RFP for the work and will help manage the project. 

MHR’s principal is Mark Robbins, a former New Canaan resident who attended the meeting. Moynihan noted that Robbins has consulted on solar projects at local schools.

Bill Oestmann

Town Officials Approve Contract for Design and Engineering Services at Outback

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Officials on Monday morning voted in favor of a contract that’s designed to kickstart the long-awaited transformation of a public building behind Town Hall from a defunct teen center to a useful, rented commercial space. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 to approve a $44,000 contract with Woodbury-based Gary Numberger, Architect LLC for design and engineering services in connection with the former Outback Teen Center. The New Canaan Department of Human Services is to move into the ground floor of the building from its current home in Vine Cottage, while a dance studio rents space on the main floor. According to Department of Public Works Building Superintendent Bill Oestmann, the municipal agency will get a dedicated new entrance from the Town Hall side of the Outback. “It will be more inviting,” he said of the planned new entrance, and the Human Services Department will also move into renovated space with offices and a conference room.

Bill Oestmann

Plan To Remake ‘Irwin House’ As Office Space for Nonprofits Stalls at Town Funding Bodies; Public’s Input Sought

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Members of New Canaan’s legislative body said last week that they need more information and public input prior to committing an estimated $400,000 to a renovation of Irwin House as a base of operations for local nonprofit organizations. 

Though rent from three nonprofit organizations that have shown an interest in relocating to the Irwin Park house would come to about $46,500—exceeding the annual cost of maintenance—the town first must gauge whether taxpayers would prefer to tear the structure down, members of the Town Council said during their regular meeting. Chairman John Engel said the three nonprofits interested in moving to the Weed Street property—New Canaan Land Trust, New Canaan Community Foundation and Staying Put in New Canaan—also should have an opportunity say how important such a move would be for them, what alternatives they’ve seen and how hard it is to find a workable space. Councilman Penny Young said, “There really are a lot of questions. This is indeed the cart before the horse. I mean way before horse.”

The comments came as the Town Council discussed a possible investment of $80,000 for architectural, engineering and other services that would be needed prior to the physical renovation work.