Government

Application for Cell Tower in Northeastern New Canaan Poised to Move Forward; AT&T on Board as Carrier

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On hold for many months, a formal application for a widely discussed cell tower proposed for a private property in northeastern New Canaan is poised to move forward, as a service carrier is now on board with the project, officials say. Proposed by Soundview Lane resident Keith Richey early last year, the 85-foot-high “monopine” tower would host equipment from AT&T if approved by the state agency that oversees telecommunications, according to an Oct. 1 letter to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. Submitted on behalf of AT&T as well as Homeland Towers, a wireless infrastructure consulting firm, the letter describes the project at 183 Soundview Lane as “the result of years of review to provide wireless services to the northeastern portion of the town.”

“As you probably know through your own experience, the exponential growth in consumer use of mobile data and overall network demands requires the development of additional wireless infrastructure to reliably serve the public,” said the letter, from attorney Lucia Chiocchio of White Plains, N.Y.-based Cuddy+Feder LLP. 

The proposed tower “would provide reliable 4G LTE service to over 1,000 residents in the area and several miles of main and secondary roads,” the letter said. The cell tower itself would include “faux branches extending another 5 feet above the top of the monopine within a fenced compound in the northwest portion of the 4.05-acre parcel.”

“AT&T’s antennas would be placed at a centerline budget height of 81 feet with equipment installed at grade within the compound.

Chris Hering

‘We Are Being Reasonable’: Facing Rebuke from Commission Chairman, Parking Manager Defends Enforcement 

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During a tense meeting last week that included menacing language from an appointed official, the head of New Canaan’s Parking Bureau defended the town’s enforcement officers against accusations that they’re aggressive and sneaky about issuing tickets. 

Not only do enforcement officers ask motorists to move prior to ticketing them, but many tickets are voided by the Parking Bureau before they ever come before the appointed body that oversees the town department, Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg said Thursday night. “We give leniency,” Miltenberg said during the Parking Commission’s regular meeting, held in Town Hall. 

“If somebody is sitting in the car and in a no parking zone, we ask them to move. Let me tell you what the staff and I am encountering by these people out on they street: They don’t want to move. Excuse me for being like this, but we are taking such crap from these people that you don’t see the other side and I have to defend the department. We are not out there—we’re short-staffed to begin with and we are not out there watching people and sneaking up on people.

Government

Town Solicits Bids To Demolish ‘Mead Park Brick Barn’

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The town on Thursday took a step toward demolishing the ‘Mead Park Brick Barn’ by putting out a formal request for bids from companies to raze the widely discussed structure, New Canaan’s highest elected official said. The bids are due back Oct. 18, Kevin Moynihan said during a press briefing held Thursday morning at Town Hall. “This is very ministerial at this point,” he said. 

The Brick Barn is slated for demolition Oct. 23, after the town issued a 90-day delay in August.

Around Town

‘We’ll Always Remember’: New Canaan Holds Memorial Ceremony for Victims of 9/11

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In the immediate wake of the horror of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, New Canaan’s highest elected official recalled Tuesday, “blindsided and fearing the worst, America delivered its best.”

“Americans fought back—with faith, courage, sacrifice and love,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan told more than 100 local emergency responders, municipal workers, residents and elected and appointed officials gathered in the north entrance to Town Hall during the town’s annual remembrance ceremony. “People didn’t run from danger, they rushed to it. Strangers helped strangers. First responders climbed stairways to heaven.

Around Town

Unwelcome Sight: New Parking Plan for Elm Street Takes Shape

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An unwelcome change to parking on Elm Street in New Canaan has materialized in the form of thin strips of white paint. Though the permanent striping on New Canaan’s main business road is yet to come, public works officials have drawn the outline of a new parking arrangement over the recently repaved Elm Street that will see it lose 15 spaces. 

Prompted by a resident formally putting New Canaan on notice that the town was out of compliance with a little-known (and variously observed) state law that calls for a 25-foot buffer zone between a crosswalk and legal parking space—a notification that could open up the municipality to liability in the event of a collision—officials studied the parking plan on Elm Street and, reluctantly, approved revisions that respect the statute. Last week, residents got their first look at the new “no parking” zones based on outlines in the asphalt, and the change is dramatic. 

It also means downtown New Canaan, always struggling to accommodate demand for parking between workers and visitors, soon will be squeezed even tighter. Laura Budd of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce said the change makes it that much more urgent and necessary for those who work in both first- and second-floor businesses on Main and Elm to park in municipal lots. “Prime spots are for prime customers,” Budd said.