Brendan Hayes

Solar Panels To Be Installed on South School Roof This Summer

By |

Officials are moving forward with the first phase of a plan to install solar panels on the roofs of New Canaan’s public schools. 

New Canaan Public Schools Director of Finance and Operations Dr. Jo-Ann Keating told the Board of Education at its regular meeting July 15 that a revised contract with the party providing the panels had been finalized. The revised contract is “about 73% less than our current rate that we pay per kilowatt hour,” Keating said at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “The panel system is going to cover about 80% of our demand requirement, so we’ll still be going out to the grid for about 20% of what we need,” she added. The revised contract follows months of progress in bringing the sustainable power source to New Canaan Public Schools. At the Board’s April 22 meeting, Keating said that solar panels are to be installed on the roof of South School this summer, with a plan for installation on East and West schools and Saxe Middle Schools over the next three years.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

By |

The town on Tuesday issued a permit for Acme, the Elm Street grocery store known for decades as Food Emporium, to do a $1.5 million interior renovation at the store. The work at 288 Elm St. will include “shelving, display units, refrigerated cases” and checkout areas, according to the building permit, a total of 25,198 square feet. ***

Lindsay Benko, a New Canaan High School graduate whose father, Steve Benko, is the town’s longtime recreation director, is to be married June 9 of next year at First Presbyterian Church with a reception to follow at Waveny House (her dad’s workplace). She met her fiancé, Albany, N.Y. area native Chris Gardner, while the two studied nursing at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. 

***

Four members of New Canaan Girl Scout Troop 50121—Olivia Licata, Megan Lydon, Emma Gibbens and Lily Plum—intend to install three bike racks at Waveny, Irwin and Kiwanis Parks as their Silver Award projects.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

By |

Jeff Immelt, chairman of the board at General Electric and the company’s CEO (through next month), sold his New Canaan home for $4 million, according to a property transfer logged Wednesday at the Town Clerk’s office. He had purchased a new 10,000-square-foot Colonial on West Road in 2001. ***

A little dog who resides on Old Stamford Road got off-property when someone left a gate open and he found his way to Waveny Pool on a hot and humid day this week. The Havanese mix called ‘Pepe,’ approximately four years old, turned up at the town facility around 11:08 a.m. on Monday, June 19. The pool supervisor contacted police and an owner was located.

News

East School Rebounds with Perfect Score on Health Inspection After Failing in the Fall

By |

After failing a health inspection the fall, the food services staff at East School earned a perfect score following the most recent unannounced visit from a town sanitarian. The school on Sept. 16 had been cited by the New Canaan Health Department for a major violation—the first such problem found there through dozens of inspections in 10 years. Specifically, a health inspector discovered chlorine sanitizer in a wiping cloth bucket to be at a toxic level of 200 parts per million, according to records obtained by NewCanaanite.com. A correction plan outlined by the sanitarian included remaking the mixture at 50 to 100 ppm and training staff members.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

By |

The owners of the Roger Sherman Inn said late Wednesday that the restaurant isn’t closed for good after all. After announcing last month that Jan. 2 would be the Oenoke Ridge Road restaurant’s final day, an email blast shared on social media and signed by Nes Jaffre said “we’re extending our stay.” It isn’t clear how long it will be open or what’s the reason for the extension—the property is to be redeveloped by a Norwalk man, pending approval from the town. The Roger Sherman will serve in its bar and on its heated porch, and the dining room is available by request, according to the bulletin.