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.

News

Letter: ‘Thank You’ from Rotary Following Successful Lobsterfest

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Editor,

The Rotary Club wishes to thank all those who participated in this year’s Lobsterfest, especially the New Canaan Historical Society for allowing us to hold it on their grounds, and all our many sponsors and ticket holders who came to help make it a lively, colorful and successful event. In addition to supporting many very worthy local organizations with our proceeds, we wish you to know that your continual support of us has reached deserving people well beyond our immediate area. In 1987, when there were 350,000 known cases of polio, Rotary International set out on a mission to help eradicate polio worldwide. Since then Rotarians, through their clubs across the globe, have all been contributing to this effort, so that four years ago there were only 359 recorded new cases anywhere, and last year only 21. This year, we understand that there have been no new recorded cases.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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After years of anticipation, the vacant and deteriorating antique home at 4 Main St. finally has been sold, according to a property transfer recorded Wednesday in the Town Clerk’s office. Arnold Karp bought the ca. 1780-built Greek Revival from James Talbot for $810,000. ***

State officials this week voted in favor of a recommendation from counsel for the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, finding that the town broke the law by withholding a draft document of the New Canaan Planning & Zoning Commission.

Government

‘This Is a Massive Building’: Neighbors Voice Concerns Over Proposed Athletic Facility at New Canaan Country School

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Saying a proposed new athletic facility at New Canaan Country School would loom too close to their property line as currently envisioned, neighbors of the private Frogtown Road institution are calling on officials to deny an application now before the town. To be located east and a bit further away from Frogtown Road from an existing and outdated facility that will be razed, the new structure would sit 40 feet from the eastern property line—a distance that, though it technically meets the setback requirement of 35 feet laid out in the New Canaan Zoning Regulations, is at “astonishingly close range” to the residential property that’s been in George Moore’s family since about 1938, he said. “We respectfully ask that the New Canaan Planning & Zoning board reject this proposal,” Moore told members of the P&Z Commission at their Jan. 30 regular meeting, held at Town Hall. “We feel like this is a real affront to our family’s property and property value.

Government

Despite Calls To Slow Down, Town Council by 7-3 Vote Approves Redesign of ‘Parterre Garden’ at Waveny

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Thanking the volunteers who conceived of the plan and vowed to fund it—and despite opposition from some professional landscape architects—New Canaan’s legislative body on Wednesday night voted in favor of a redesign of a prominent garden at Waveny. The Town Council—New Canaan’s land use authority—at its special meeting voted 7-3 in favor of what some have called a “substantial redesign” of the parterre or “upper garden” at the beloved town park, though a national organization and prominent local landscape architect cautioned against a hasty approval. During an emotionally charged meeting at Town Hall, councilmen expressed regret that the two parties holding different opinions on what is best for the garden—the New Canaan Garden Club on one side with the redesign, and Keith Simpson Associates and a Washington, D.C.-based coalition on the other, advocating for a historic restoration—could not find a middle ground. Councilman Joe Paladino said he would like to see an “expanded dialogue” between the two sides—calling the Garden Club “an agency with decades and decades” of service to the town, and Simpson himself “an individual with hundreds and hundreds of hours that have benefitted our town.”

Yet a respectful exchange of ideas did not appear to be forthcoming, and the Town Council after some discussion approved the Garden Club’s plan. Those voting in favor included Chairman John Engel, Vice Chairmen Sven Englund and Rich Townsend, Steve Karl, Christa Kenin, Cristina A. Ross and Liz Donovan.