Government

‘Taking Some Action’: Town Officials Move Forward with Proposal for Surveillance Cameras at Waveny Entrances

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Following an online petition signed by more than 2,000 people, and acting on the advice of police, town officials said this week that they’re looking to install cameras to record motor vehicles entering and exiting Waveny Park. 

Parks and Public Works officials said during a subcommittee meeting Tuesday that the cost of installation might be around $25,000, for which they would likely request a special appropriation. The main purpose of the cameras will be to “show visibility of activity coming in and out of our parks,” Parks and Recreation Commission Chairman Rona Siegel said during a meeting of the appointed body’s Camera Subcommittee. The two-person subcommittee, which also includes Parks Commissioner Matt Konspore, discussed potential locations for the cameras, focusing on the three entrances to the park—one on South Avenue and two on Lapham Road, including near the Waveny Pool. “It would just be an extension of cameras at the entrances – not throughout the park,” Siegel said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. Those in attendance included Siegel and Konspore as well as Recreation Director Steve Benko, Public Works Director Tiger Mann and Parks Superintendent John Howe.

Government

‘You’re Promoting Bad Behavior’: Parks Officials Push Back on Installing Additional Trash Bin at Waveny

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Parks officials last week pushed back on the idea of placing an additional trash receptacle in a trouble spot at Waveny where dog owners tend to dump used poop bags. Installing a bin near the turn at Lapham Road above the Merritt Parkway would amount to “promoting bad behavior,” according to Parks Superintendent John Howe. “By putting a trash can in there, you are allowing people then to stack it another 40 feet away and when we had trash cans all over the parks and all over our school fields, they were in worse shape because people had a knack of saying, ‘It’s near the trash can, it’s close enough,’ ” Howe told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission at their June 12 meeting in Town Hall. “You have animals that will take out the garbage and strew it around. I would sooner keep going like we are, removing the bag.”

He referred to a bag that a park visitor ties to a tree to receive the used bags.

Gene Goodman

Parks Officials: Extensive Restoration, Reimagining of Waveny Pond, Environs Is Near

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A nonprofit organization dedicated to Waveny is moving forward with plans to improve the pond at the bottom of the sledding hill and surrounding area, parks officials said last week. A centerpiece of the Waveny Park Conservancy’s master plan, the pond restoration project requires both state and federal approval, according to Recreation Director Steve Benko. The town is funding a $170,000 dredge of Waveny Pond, and the Conservancy is committing an additional $150,000 “to go in and take out the understory and overgrown vines” from both sides of the pond on the approach from the main house, Benko said during a regular meeting of the Parks & Recreation Commission. A new trail will be installed around the left-hand side of the pond on that approach, a project that will include removal of dead trees, brush and vines, Benko said at the Dec. 12 meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. 

“It will really enhance the view of the pond as you walk down that path,” he said.

Government

Selectmen Vote 3-0 in Favor of Mosquito Larvicide Contract

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The Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting Tuesday unanimously approved a $13,200 contract with a Branford-based ecological management firm to put mosquito larvicide in New Canaan’s storm drains. Representatives from All Habitat Services LLC will come to town to dump a product called Vectolex into some 2,540 catch basins in town, Parks Superintendent John Howe told the board. “They come on scooters, take a scoop of Vectolex, and dump it into each catch basin as they drive around town,” Howe said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. These scooters are installed with GPS so that they can be easily tracked, according to Howe. In addition to mosquito traps installed by the state to monitor pest counts, All Habitat Services will track the mosquitos in town to see if they’re carrying viruses.

Government

Town Hires Greenwich Company for $16,000 in Irrigation Work at Waveny Pool

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a $15,895 contract with a Greenwich-based company to repair and replace parts of the irrigation system around the Waveny Pool. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of the contract with Summer Rain. According to Recreation Director Steve Benko, an irrigation system was installed when the pool was built 17 years ago “that included a sprinkler system for lawn and whole series of drip irrigation for plants or whatever.”

“And we have a whole lot of leaks,” Benko told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall. The area of the pool by the diving boards is “soaking wet,” Benko said. Summer Rain, which has done irrigation and maintenance work on New Canaan’s playing fields in the past, will remove some of the cracked drip irrigation equipment that isn’t truly needed and upgrade the drip irrigation system in front of the Waveny Pool building for landscaping, Benko said.