Around Town

Officials OK New Temporary Loading Zones Downtown While ‘Pop Up Park’ Operates Aug. 5 to 28

By |

The volunteer group that oversees on-street parking in New Canaan voted unanimously last week to designate two areas for commercial truck drivers to pull up and unload for the three weeks in August that the Pop Up Park will occupy their loading zone on the final block of South Avenue. The park is to be set up on South between Morse Court and Elm Street from Aug. 5 to 28, following approval from the Police Commission in December. Its organizers say it will feature new furniture and umbrellas. Two years ago, the Pop Up Park Committee placed the loading zone just beyond the park on Elm Street but “that wasn’t safe for pedestrians because of the two crosswalks there,” committee member Jeff Holland told the Police Commission at its July 20 meeting.

Business

Letter from Organizers: ‘We Certainly Hope the Pop Up Park Can Return’

By |

As the Pop Up Park committee we have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from New Canaan residents and visitors. It is a testament to our town that even in this time of cyber communication that we still cherish a space where we can meet, shop and enjoy our summer months together, young and old, as a community. However, we recognize that we must respect the wishes of our merchant community as well. Although we feel as if we included them in the decision-making process of earlier this year, some merchants felt as if their voices were not heard until after we had secured permission to launch the Pop-Up Park for the summer. It is worthwhile to note here that we had heard and continue to hear from merchants that were very supportive of the Pop Up Park and felt it was a benefit to their business while others did not.

Around Town

Pop Up Park Creators Eye Summer 2016 Re-Launch

By |

Though they stopped short of specifying just where the Pop Up Park would be located in the future—a major sticking point for a group of downtown merchants who oppose it—those who created and for three summers operated the makeshift plaza on the final block of South Avenue said Wednesday night that they plan to launch it again next summer. There will be no Pop Up Park in 2015, despite an online petition and many New Canaanites on social and local media platforms calling for its return, Betsy Wilson, a Realtor who serves on the Pop Up Park Committee, told the Police Commission. “Our goal by early 2016 is to have approval for next summer,” Wilson told the commission at its meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department. “It’s not going to be open [in 2015]. What we are going to do is continue to organize.”

That means inviting all stakeholders to help forge a workable site and operational plan, Wilson said, as well as defining committee members’ roles, developing liaisons to emergency response agencies, launching a website, branding the Pop Up Park with a formal logo and securing funding through a GoFundMe campaign, Wilson said.

News

With Success, Pop-Up Park Reaches Crossroads; Organizers Ask: Where Do We Go from Here?

By |

Launched on a test basis in the summer of 2012 and evolving each year since into a more regular fixture downtown, the Pop-Up Park at South and Elm—host to activities year-round including World Cup Weekend, family gatherings, outdoor concerts and showcases for local eateries—has garnered positive feedback from residents, businesses and town officials. On Wednesday night, the architects and volunteers who organize the popular park—noting that the labor required to set up and break down each summer weekend is not feasible long-term—turned to town planning officials for direction on whether the Pop-Up Park should become a summer-only, more frequent or even permanent feature of downtown New Canaan. “The original concept was, ‘Let’s try it and see if it works,’ ” Pop-Up Park Committee member Arnold Karp said at a special meeting of the Plan Implementation Committee, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department. “I think we’ve had three seasons to really test it out. It does work, so where do we take it from here?

Business

Parking Officials Target the (Non) Parking Space Near Dunkin Donuts on Elm

By |

Parking officials are trying to figure out just how to prevent motorists—oftentimes those with handicapped stickers—from pulling into what appears to be a space at the “50-yard line” of Elm Street but which actually isn’t. The yellow hatch markings just below the pedestrian crosswalk on Elm Street, on the Dunkin Donuts side of the street, indicate that the area isn’t meant for cars to park there. There’s a handicapped spot right next to it, but people regularly park not only there but also in the yellow hatch area. The matter is in the hands of the Police Commission, which oversees on-street parking in New Canaan. Members of the Parking Commission at their most recent meeting described the difficulty as trying to decide just how to deter motorists from pulling into the spot.