Government

Six Candidates To Undergo First-Round Interviews for New Canaan Town Planner Job This Week

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Officials say they received a strong response to the open town planner job in New Canaan, and will commence interviews with six final candidates on Thursday and Friday this week. Active town planners in nearby communities are among those conducting the first-round interviews, according to Cheryl Pickering-Jones, director of human resources for the town of New Canaan. “We are trying to move quickly,” Pickering-Jones told NewCanaanite.com. Town Planner Steve Kleppin, whose last day is Thursday as he takes the same job in neighboring Norwalk, will continue to advise New Canaan in a consulting position, she said. Given that New Canaan has received major applications in recent weeks and months—for example, the Merritt Village proposal, (recently modified) Roger Sherman Inn redevelopment plans and effort from Grace Farms to amend its operating permit—Kleppin’s institutional and historical knowledge, and ready familiarity with New Canaan Zoning Regulations, are important assets, officials say.

Government

‘It Is More Grave Than That’: After Conflicting Findings, Town To Seek Impartial Expert’s View of Former Teen Center Building

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Saying the major disparities among recent findings regarding the structural integrity of the former Outback Teen Center building makes them uncomfortable, town officials on Tuesday said that they will seek an impartial third-party expert’s view. The idea originated with New Canaan’s chief building official, members of the Board of Selectmen said at their regular meeting, and could provide much-needed guidance as New Canaan takes up the question of just what to do with the structure, vacant since July. “We have got such disparity between the original analysis–which said it could fall down in a hurricane—and then the next one is ‘OK everything is hunky dory,’ ” Selectman Nick Williams said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “That is problematic, from my perspective. Clearly, it is more grave than that and I think a third party coming in, at some additional cost, is worth it.”

The new findings are expected to come through prior to next Tuesday’s Board of Finance meeting, the selectmen said, and should cost less than $5,000.

Government

‘A Big Loss’: Town Planner Steve Kleppin To Leave New Canaan for Norwalk Job

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Steve Kleppin recalled that when took the helm as town planner 11 years ago in New Canaan’s Land Use Department, after spending six months as assistant town planner, the agency’s perception in the community was poor. Some on staff at the time had faced criticism from the public and many relationships between the two had gone sour, he said. Yet “through the people that were here and the other people that came on board, we changed that, as a group,” Kleppin recalled Thursday, hours before the town announced that he had taken the role of town planner in neighboring Norwalk. “It’s a well-run area. Even though people might not always like the outcome or the decisions that are made, they’re treated appropriately, treated well and the decisions are thought-out.”

A steady, soft-spoken figure who is highly respected among colleagues, building professionals and property owners in New Canaan—often delivering unwanted news that touches on the largest single investment that residents will ever make—Kleppin will work his last day here on Oct.

Government

‘I’m Honored’: New Canaan’s Chief Building Official Singled Out By Peers for Award

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A professional organization that promotes building safety and works to advance the understanding and enforcement of the state building code has honored a New Canaan municipal employee with a prestigious award. Chief Building Official Brian Platz, in the important position here for nearly 12 years, has received the Clifton Clark Award from the Connecticut Building Officials Association. “What makes this special is that it is my peers, and the best of my peers, are the ones that actually vote on that,” Platz said on a recent morning from his office at Town Hall, a plaque for the award on his desk. “It’s a panel. It’s not one person.

News

‘Responsive in Words But Not in Action’: Neighbors, Officials Eye Long-Neglected Richmond Hill Road Properties

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Town officials say they’ve fielded multiple complaints of blight on two conspicuous, adjacent Richmond Hill Road properties marked by peeling and dilapidated structures, unkempt yards, garbage and general disarray. Owned by New Canaan resident Sam Zendehrouh, the eyesores include a neglected 1820-built home and freestanding garage at 39 Richmond Hill Road and vacant, overgrown lot at 45 Richmond Hill Road where a house that had been constructed the same year came down in 2011. Neighbors in letters to New Canaan Town Building Official Brian Platz have said the remaining house has a hole in its clearly deteriorating roof and that after rainstorms, Zendehrouh himself has been seen dumping buckets of water out of the structure and siphoning rainwater out of the second floor. Asked about the situation, Platz said that the owner “has not been very responsive.”

“He has been responsive in words but not in action,” Platz said. “This is not fair to any of the residents of New Canaan, but especially to the immediate neighbors who have had to live next to that for many years.