Great Blue

First Selectman Moves To Conduct Town-Wide Survey

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New Canaan’s highest elected official said the town will meet with a Glastonbury-based firm Wednesday to discuss a widely anticipated survey that establishes taxpayer priorities. 

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said Tuesday during a regular Board of Selectmen meeting that Great Blue is expected to conduct the survey. The town has $20,000 for the project, he said. “Depending on how the meeting goes, we will bring back an agreement in two weeks,” he said. During a multi-board workshop held in November, prior to the last budget cycle, officials from elected and appointed bodies including the Boards of Selectmen, Education and Finance, as well as the Town Council, decided to conduct a survey of residents to better understand their spending priorities. Saying they faced a lack of funds, the Board of Finance decided in January to postpone the funding of the survey until the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.

Ellen Zumbach

Have You ‘Herd’? Local Group Eyes Bringing Goats to Irwin Park To Clear Invasives

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A local nonprofit group is looking to bring goats to a popular park in order to clear an invasive species without using chemicals. The New Canaan Garden Club has proposed a monthslong project inside Irwin Park, according to information disclosed Tuesday during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen. Asked about the project, Garden Club President Ellen Zumbach said Irwin has “a significant invasive problem” with plants, “particularly with Japanese Knotweed, where it’s encroaching on the Flexi pave path,” Zumbach said. “It’s called the bully of invasives—it really spreads a lot.”

According to Zumbach, the goats would be confined to an area near the gazebo and would be corralled in some fashion. “They’re very sociable and friendly animals,” she said.

News

Newly Formed ‘Blight Review Board’ Elects Officials, Define Priorities

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A newly created committee designed to help residents who may be struggling to maintain their properties met met for the first time last week to elect officers and discuss its work. The Blight Review Board will help homeowners with problems such as overgrown yards, unraked leaves or deteriorating houses so they can correct those conditions rather than get punished for them, according to Chief Building Official Brian Platz, who had advocated for creation of the appointed body. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan presided over the meeting, held Thursday at Town Hall. During the 45-minute meeting, Brock Saxe was unanimously elected chairman and Paul Tully secretary. Saxe is a commerical real estate professional with Halstead and Tombrock Corporation, while Tully is a real estate and construction professional.

Hussey Bros. Excavating

Selectmen Approve Contract to Improve Trail in Waveny ‘Cornfields’

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Town officials this week approved a contract designed to improve pedestrian access to a recently reimagined area within Waveny that will serve as a new destination for park visitors. The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a $95,000 contract with a Norwalk-based company to reconstruct a new trail in the “cornfields” area near the southeastern corner of Waveny. The town will pay $45,000 toward the project, while the nonprofit Waveny Park Conservancy will donate the remaining $50,000, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “The [Waveny Park] Conservancy is excited about this because they’ve done a lot of work on the cornfield and want to drive traffic to it,” Mann said during the Board’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. Ultimately, the Conservancy’s vision for the cornfields is to create an area with trails, seating and wildflower meadows, officials have said.

Government

Moynihan: Selectmen May Vote on RFP for Sale of Vine Cottage Next Week

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The Board of Selectmen next week will review documents that could lead to the sale of Vine Cottage, New Canaan’s highest elected official said Tuesday. According to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, the selectmen will review an RFP to either sell the gabled Main Street building or offer “a land lease with a condition that it be done with historic preservation intentions, with an easement.”

The selectmen “will hopefully approve an RFP” during their May 21 meeting, Moynihan told members of the Board of Finance. 

Before New Canaan sells the property, the Town Council would need to hold a public hearing, Moynihan said during the finance board’s regular meeting. Located opposite the firehouse, the 2,334-square-foot Vine Cottage was built in about 1859 and in recent years has housed the New Canaan Department of Human Services. 

That agency is moving into the lower floor of the former Outback Teen Center. Though Selectman Kit Devereaux has called for more public input prior to the town divesting itself of the building, finance board members have pushed for its sale. 

The Town Building Evaluation & Use Committee in its December 2017 report said the town should put off a decision on renovating the building until the future home of the Board of Ed is determined. The following summer, Moynihan noted that the town’s five-year capital plan assumed the antique structure was no longer in New Canaan’s portfolio. 

His comments to the Board of Finance this week came during the first selectman’s regular update on town matters.