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Parks Officials Vote 7-1 To Support New Access Road Connecting NCHS, Waveny

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Saying they still need to reach an agreement with district officials about how a proposed new access road linking New Canaan High School to Waveny would be used, members of the Parks & Recreation Commission at their most recent meeting voted 7-1 in favor the concept. The proposed road would run south of the parking lot that sits between Dunning Field and the tennis courts at NCHS, through a grass area toward where the Summer Theatre of New Canaan had its site, and connect to a milled lot alongside the Waveny water towers. By installing parking spaces on either side of the new road, and at the same time expanding “water tower field” parking, New Canaan would gain about 75 new spaces in an area that now requires more of them, with the launch of additional turf fields, officials have said. Briefed on the plan in March, some Parks & Rec commissioners said they worried the new access road would bring unwanted additional traffic to Waveny. Since then, members of the Commission have walked the site and studied the plan in greater detail, and at their April 10 meeting voted to approve the idea, though questions about whether gates on either side of the road would be “locked during the day full-time, open only on weekends, only allowed for teacher parking or student parking” still must be worked out, Chairman Rona Siegel said.

Carl Mason

Parks & Rec Seeks To Improve Platform Tennis Reservation System

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Saying improvements could be made to reservation and waitlist systems, parks officials say they’re trying to figure out how to ensure the platform tennis courts at Waveny are getting full use. As it is, those reserving the “paddle tennis” courts may cancel up to four hours before their scheduled slot—a deadline the town changed from 12 hours at the request of the players themselves, according to Recreation Director Steve Benko. Yet even if an auto-notification system alerted others on a waitlist about a newly available court, it’s difficult to pull together four players on a few hours’ notice, Benko told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission at their most recent meeting. 

“The hardest thing is that paddle is a doubles game, not a singles game,” Benko said during the April 10 meeting, held at Town Hall. “Very few people play singles paddle.”

Commissioner Francesca Segalas said that with the online reservation system now in place, “cancellations and waitlist were two issues that really are not working well,” and that those players who have demonstrated “a cancellation habit” cannot be tracked. 

Commissioner Carl Mason asked what Parks & Rec would seek to do in terms of its policy if it was able to identify “repeat offenders” who tend to cancel at the last minute. Benko said the town’s policy has been that a warning is issued the first time, a three-day penalty (where players cannot make a reservation) is imposed after a second, a week-long penalty after a third offense and “then you are done” if it happens a fourth time.

Caffeine & Carburetors

Parks & Rec Votes 11-0 To Approve Oct. 20 ‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ at Waveny

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[Note: This article has been corrected with the Oct. 20 date for Caffeine & Carburetors.]

Saying “safety” concerns had been addressed, town officials last week voted unanimously to approve an Oct. 20 Caffeine & Carburetors show at Waveny. During her last meeting as head of the Parks & Recreation Commission, Chair Sally Campbell said she was satisfied that plans for the popular gathering of auto enthusiasts included provisions for pedestrian safety, a limit on the number of vehicles and clear directions for where attendees should park. “This is good, I think it’s great,” Campbell said during the Commission’s March 13 meeting, held at Town Hall.

Government

‘Follow Them, Look at Their Car, Get the License Plate’: Parks Commissioner Calls for Self-Policing at Irwin

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A town official on Wednesday night called for a renewed effort to self-police Irwin Park, which she said has seen a resurgence in abandoned dog feces. 

Parks & Recreation Commission member Francesca Segalas said during the group’s regular meeting that reporting offenders to police and having them ticketed has worked in the past. Tickets issued to irresponsible dog walkers last year led to less dog waste left behind, Segalas said at the meeting, held at Town Hall. “And the tickets happened from two citizens reporting, not from the cops stopping them,” she said. “The dog warden caught them but she caught them on information from the citizen. So we need people to go and kind of look and see and if you see somebody who leaves dog poo behind, follow them, look at their car, get the license plate and text it to me and I’ll take care of it.”

The comments come one year after Parks & Rec formed a committee to tackle the problem and one local woman launched a widely discussed public shaming campaign at Irwin, placing ‘Shame On You’ flags on individual piles of excrement left at the popular park.

Caffeine & Carburetors

Parks & Rec Chair: We Need a Formal Parking Plan Before Approving October ‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ at Waveny

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Saying they’re concerned about pedestrian safety, town officials on Wednesday night called for the organizer of a popular car enthusiast gathering to be held Oct. 20 at Waveny to ensure that a footpath running along the main road through the park is clear. 

If the Caffeine & Carburetors exhibitor cars are parked on one side of the footpath only, then visitors who wander through the popular show that Sunday will be less likely to walk in the road, according to members of the Parks & Recreation Commission. “If you can get the cars to park so that the path accessible that would be great, because that would change entirely what happened with all the pedestrians in the road,” Commissioner Francesca Segalas said at the group’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. It isn’t clear which side of the pedestrian path is to be left clear—parks officials couldn’t agree on that—but Caffeine & Carburetors founder Doug Zumbach agreed to work with Recreation Director Steve Benko, Parks Superintendent John Howe and Commissioner Matt Konspore on a parking plan. Parks & Rec Chair Sally Campbell said the Commission would take a vote on whether to recommend the Oct.