Around Town

First Selectmen: Memorial Day Parade, Waveny Fireworks Canceled 

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New Canaan’s highest elected official said Friday that the town is canceling two of its most cherished annual community events due to the COVID-19 virus public health emergency. An “appropriate alternative ceremony” will be held Memorial Day instead of the parade, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, and municipal leaders are taking suggestions on how to hold a safe alternative to the traditional July 4 fireworks at Waveny. As of Sunday evening, 25 people in New Canaan had succumbed to coronavirus disease, officials said. “We grieve for these losses and our thoughts and prayers are with their families,” Moynihan said. The news of cancellations came days after local leaders reopened public parks for trail-walking only, and as the community pursues what Moynihan called the “measured and disciplined reopening of our local economy.” 

Gov. Ned Lamont last week sketched out a plan that would see businesses including “nonessential” retail shops, salons and outdoor areas at restaurants reopen as long as coronavirus disease hospitalizations decline, more testing is made available and a program for contact tracing is established.

Government

Town Opts Not To Offer Senior Discount on Dump Sticker Fee

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Town officials said last week that they won’t offer seniors a discount on annual sticker fees at the dump, as one resident had suggested. Among peer towns, only Darien offers such a discount, but the sticker fee there is $120 whereas New Canaan’s is going up from $45 to $75, officials said during the April 21 meeting of the Board of Selectmen. Wilton, Westport, Weston and Ridgefield offer no such discount, according to Don Smith, the Department of Public Works’ assistant superintendent of solid waste at the Transfer Station. A senior discount therefore “is not prevalent,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said at the meeting, held via videoconference. 

“Keep in mind, many seniors are in congregate areas where they have contractural services with their rents, such as all the apartment buildings and all the condos and co-ops,” Moynihan said. “So there will be some seniors, obviously—but anyway, we are not going to bring forth a recommendation on a senior discount.

Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Vote 3-0 To Defer Some Rental Payments for Tenants of Town-Owned Buildings

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Officials decided Tuesday to defer the next three months’ rent for a handful of local businesses and nonprofit organizations that rent space in town-owned buildings. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said he wanted to propose a 90-day moratorium of rent, inclusive of May, June and July, “to show that the town wants to help our downtown merchants and our nonprofits, especially.”

Noting that businesses such as Bow Tie Cinemas, which rents space from the town-owned Playhouse on Elm Street, have been forced to close, Moynihan told fellow members of the Board of Selectmen, “We ought to be generous.”

“They have no revenues, they are closed,” he said during the Board’s regular meeting, held via videoconference. “And it’s not quite fair to be charging rent in a time of crisis. We want these tenants to be in business four months or six months from now. So we are going to give up some modest amounts of revenue.  But I think it’s the right thing to do and, also, I’d like to show our community landlords that they need to perhaps look at giving some moratorium relief to their tenants.

Government

Town Awaits Bids on Waveny House ADA Project as Major Funding Decision Looms

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Municipal officials say they’re eagerly awaiting contractors’ bids this week for a major multi-part project at Waveny House, as the town decides whether and how quickly to redress the historic structure’s noncompliance with ADA standards. Originally believed to be a project of narrow scope costing about $1 million, a multi-year project now expected to cost $2.8 million would include creation of ADA-compliant bathrooms and installation of an elevator so that disabled people could access Waveny’s second floor—where the Parks & Recreation Department is located—as well as required upgrades to a fire escape and entrances to the brick mansion from its west porch and rear balcony. 

While some municipal leaders have said they support the project, including First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, others—including some members of New Canaan’s legislative body—have voiced concerns about spending the money while much of the large structure itself still has no clearly defined long-term use or identified revenue stream beyond the roughly $100,000 to $140,000 generated annually through renting it out for events such as weddings. “We have got to make some decisions about this project, because if we have no project, we probably don’t have a Waveny House,” Moynihan said Monday during a meeting of the Selectmen’s Committee on Facilities and Infrastructure, held via videoconference. 

The Board of Finance and Town Council are expected to vote next month on whether to authorize the funds (the issuance of bonds to pay for the project, and attendant public hearings, would still need to follow). Bid packages expected to arrive Thursday could make a major difference in the town’s decision, officials say, especially given the prospect of cost-savings with contractors finding less work now amid the COVID-19 public health emergency. “The numbers will help us decide,” Moynihan said.

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‘They Haven’t Been Forthcoming’: Town Seeks Information from Utility Co. on Gas Installation Plans

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Town officials say the utility company that began installing a natural gas main in New Canaan two years ago hasn’t been forthcoming about its plans for this year since the onset of the COVID-19 public health emergency. 
Eversource has interpreted the governor’s declaration about “essential businesses” being able to continue their work to mean that it doesn’t cover new services or new installations of natural gas, according to New Canaan Public Works Director Tiger Mann. Yet the town is hoping the company “will relent” on its read of the new requirement “because if nothing comes forward in this construction season, then we will be looking at a delay of the project for a year,” Mann told members of the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings & Infrastructure during a meeting held Monday via videoconference. 

“In a nutshell, we have asked them for their plans for 2020 several times. They have come back with limited information. We are going to sit back down with them and ask for some more detailed information to see if we can guide them into certain areas of town—they seem to be expanding and want gas service—and then see what their plans might be for 2021 and 2022, given the fact that they haven’t been forthcoming so far. So we are hoping that they might help us plan for the future.”

Mann had said during a Board of Selectmen meeting last week that Eversource hit pause running service lines from the gas main or expanding that main further into New Canaan, as originally planned. 

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said during Monday’s meeting that part of Eversource’s thinking “may be that with the new installations they don’t want to go into people’s homes currently.”

“But it’s no reason why the business projects can’t go forward,” he said.