Government

‘That Experiment Doesn’t Seem To Work Very Well in This Town’: Selectmen Flag Lack of Trash Receptacles at Parks

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New Canaan should look again at an ineffective, money-saving change that saw the town adopt a “carry-in, carry-out” policy in lieu of more garbage cans at public parks, officials said Tuesday. Residents are asking why there aren’t more receptacles at places such as Waveny and litter has become increasingly commonplace as a result, according to Selectman Nick Williams.

“I get a lot of complaints on this and I think maybe it’s something we may want to look at,” Williams said during the Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. “And I want to know historically how this came about, and what the cost-savings was projected. We have the [PFA] Beautification Committee at New Canaan High School doing great things, now we should continue that trend.”

The comments came as the selectmen approved 3-0 a $7,500 contract with a Wilton-based refuse company to take on year-round garbage and recycling services at Lapham Community Center, Waveny Pool, Mead Park and Kiwanis Park. Recreation Director Steve Benko said the Town Council about six or seven years ago switched to a carry-in, carry-out policy with the Department of Public Works providing four dumpsters at Waveny including the water tower turf field, two at Mead, one at Irwin and two at NCHS by the athletic fields.

Around Town

Land Trust Finalizes Plans To ‘Complete the Loop’ on New Public Greenway

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More than one year after town officials approved a subdivision on Weed Street with an attendant conservation easement—a strip of land that provided the “missing link” in what advocates have called a “dream greenway,” connecting the New Canaan Nature Center to Irwin Park—the architects of that project say they’re poised to take a final step toward realizing their vision. The greenway—essentially a loop that would include a new walk through the woods between Oenoke Ridge Road and Weed Street—includes Nature Center property as well as the easement and separate pieces of New Canaan Land Trust property. The open question that Land Trust Board of Directors Secretary John Engel and others have grappled with for a year is: How to traverse the wetlands that stand between the easement and Weed Street itself? Now, Engel said, the Land Trust is working with a wetlands scientist “to give us a report so that we can make a raised walkway through the wetlands that will, on the one hand, be the least impactful on the environment and yet it has to be sufficiently substantial so that it is safe for the public.”

If completed, New Canaanites would be able to walk a loop from downtown New Canaan—say, up Elm to the intersection at Weed Street, then to Irwin Park (which itself may connect via a sidewalk to the top of Elm), then through the “new” walkway, across Land Trust and Nature Center property through the woods, then out to Oenoke Ridge Road and down toward God’s Acre and the heart of the village again. “What is important is that we are completing the circle,” Engel said.

Government

Town Pursues State Grant To Fund Elm-To-Irwin Sidewalk on Weed Street

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Town officials say they plan to apply for a state grant that would fund the creation of a new sidewalk that would connect the top of Elm Street to Irwin Park. The Board of Finance at its regular meeting Tuesday night will hear a request from town officials to apply for a $150,000 Responsible Growth and Transit-Oriented Development grant for the long-discussed project. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi noted that the sidewalk is in line with New Canaan’s Plan of Conservation and Development, in that it would help create a pedestrian-friendly connection between the business district and a town park. The sidewalk would run along the west side of Weed Street and, according to preliminary engineering plans (see PDF below), could involve removing one row of maple trees and a tree stump, and relocating a set of mailboxes at Woods End Road. The sidewalk wouldn’t run up against the roadway but would have a “grass shelf” between it and Weed Street, officials have said.

News

Attorney: Neighbors Object to Access for Possible New Driveway on Woods End Road

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Some residents of a short, private street are concerned about the prospect of their neighbor seeking new driveway access to it following a possible subdivision, officials say. A majority of homeowners on Woods End Road are concerned about “representations being made” to potential purchasers of a 2.6-acre property that sits on a corner of their private road at Weed Street, according to an attorney representing the group. “It is our understanding that potential purchasers have been presented with a subdivision plan to create an additional lot and that this new lot would have access from Woods End Road,” attorney David Rucci of Lampert Toohey & Rucci, LLC wrote in a Sept. 1 letter addressed to another lawyer. “Assuming your clients have the ability to subdivide the property and meet all current health, safety and zoning regulations, our clients would object to any additional lot using Woods End Road for access as it would be inconsistent with their ownership rights in the private road.

Around Town

Dog Waste Not Picked Up at Irwin; Offending Humans Appear To Be Neighborhood Residents

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Recreation officials are urging Irwin Park dog owners to pick up after their pets, as several complaints have come in about waste left near and even directly on the walking paths there. With the main parking lot at Irwin cordoned off and full of snow, many of the offenders appear to be neighborhood residents who walk to the Weed Street park, according to Recreation Director Steve Benko. “We have a carry in and carry out policy, and people understand that,” Benko said. “A lot of people are walking out the gate down by Bayberry and Wahackme or Weed and Wahackme, and they don’t want to go back home with a pet’s waste bag. We’re asking people to pick up their pet’s waste and either find a garbage can at the park or throw it out at home.”

It’s been a problem in the past and it persists, officials say, though offenders risk a fine of $92 per instance.