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Podcast: First Selectman Moynihan on Second-Term Priorities 

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free weekly podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan about priorities for a second term following last week’s municipal election. This week’s podcast is sponsored by The Sneddon Team, the #1 real estate team in New Canaan affiliated with Sotheby’s International Realty. The Sneddon Team is consistently recognized as a top producer in Fairfield County. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

Around Town

Parking Commission Mulls Free Downtown Parking

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Should municipal parking lots in downtown New Canaan be free to all? The idea of eliminating metered parking in the downtown was discussed briefly during Thursday’s meeting of the Parking Commission at Town Hall. “There is the idea of not charging for the commercial parking lots—but still charging for the commuter parking lots, and still having enforcement of hours, whether it be two hours or three hours,” Parking Commission Chairman Keith Richey said, explaining an idea floated by Selectman Nick Williams during a recent Board of Selectmen meeting. Richey said a rough breakdown of the revenue between the commercial and commuter lots reveals that it would be a loss of about $200,000 in revenue for the town. 

“So, it wasn’t as bad as some people thought, because you’re still getting the commuter revenue,” he said, adding that revenue generated from infractions would probably be comparable to what it is currently. “Because people will overstay… your ticket value may be unchanged,” Richey said.

Moynihan: Plan to Re-Mark Main Street in the Works

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The New Canaan Police Commission is discussing a plan to remove about 12 parking spaces on Main Street in order to accommodate a state regulation that requires on-street parking spaces to be distanced by 25 feet from crosswalks on state highways. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan—in a brief update during Thursday’s Parking Commission meeting—said he will meet with the Police Commission again next week, along with Town Counsel Ira Bloom and Town Planner Lynn Brooks Avni, to come up with a plan. Moynihan said the state is “putting pressure” on the town to get the project done quickly. “They said if we don’t do it, they will do it,” he said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. Last year, New Canaan lost 13 parking spaces on Elm Street after the town attorney advised that local ordinance cannot supersede the same 1949 state law.

Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Vote 3-0 To Delete Kiwanis Park from Food Concession Operator’s Lease

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The Board of Selectmen on Monday voted unanimously to remove Kiwanis Park from a lease held by a local business that’s been operating the food concession at the Old Norwalk Road facility in recent summers. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams voted 3-0 to amend the lease with Emad Aziz’s Apple Cart Food Company LLC. It wasn’t immediately clear why the selectmen made the change. Williams said at the special meeting, “My understanding is that this is because there is no business there.”

Moynihan said that Aziz “didn’t feel it was worthy of his efforts because of the low amount of business.”

“But there is some discussion about possibly some other vendors,” Moynihan said during the meeting, held at Town Hall, referring to discussions within the Parks & Recreation Commission. (Apple Cart will continue to operate at the seasonal Mead Park Lodge.)

A town committee two years ago in reviewing and making recommendations on the future use of publicly owned buildings in New Canaan Recent noted that “improvements to [Kiwanis] Park have provided significant upgrades to the swimming area, beach, and playground.

Animal 411

Selectmen Divided on Future of Animal Shelter in New Canaan 

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Members of the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voiced support for two different ways to move forward with the town’s Animal Control shelter, which long has been occupied in a former incinerator building at the dump. That brick structure soon will need a new roof, which two officials say would cost about $75,000 to $80,000 to replace. Selectman Nick Williams raised the issue recently, calling for New Canaan to find better quarters for the lost or abandoned animals that end up in the shelter. During the Board’s special meeting at Town Hall, Selectman Kit Devereaux said response to the issue has generated strong support from concerned residents, and that creation of a new shelter “would be a really great public-private partnership.”

“I want to know if there would be support for that,” Devereaux said. Williams said he agreed, and that he received several calls and emails from residents who want to help.