News

Plan to Subdivide 9-Acre Weed Street Lot Draws Concerns from Some Neighbors

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More than two dozen neighbors of a closely watched Weed Street property have signed a petition that’s prompted a public hearing on an application that calls for subdivision. Plans call for the 9-acre property to be divided into three lots, according to an application for a new accessway to the additional would-be houses. The Inland Wetlands Commission formally received the application for the Weed Street property last week and set an Oct. 20 hearing date. Among the 27 neighbors who signed the petition is a family with property that abuts the eastern edge of the Weed Street property, located near the intersection at Wahackme.

New Canaan Nature Center

USA-Germany Match: Community Viewing at Nature Center

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This Thursday when the USA plays Germany for a Chance to make it to the Group of 16 The New Canaan Nature Center will be hosting a Community Viewing Event starting at 12pm. It will be held in the Sturgess Room of the Visitors Center. All are welcome! However NO parking is allowed at the Nature Center but St Marks and the New Canaan Presbyterian Church have offered their parking lots for residents who are coming to watch the Game!!

Around Town

Noon Thursday: Get Your ‘Kicks’ at the Nature Center [VIDEO]

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New Canaan Music-Phil & Jim ‘I Get a Kick out of You’ 6 25 14
[On the video above: NewCanaanite.com asked Phil Williams and Jim O’Neil of New Canaan Music for a tune to mark Thursday’s huge 12 p.m. U.S.A. vs. Germany match. The guys also had a soccer ball ready for a cutaway on the word ‘kick.’ Good thinking, thanks guys!]

Here’s something New Canaan learned last weekend about our town: People here are down for gathering as a community to watch the World Cup together. An estimated 500-plus people came to the volunteer-run Pop Up Park at Elm Street and South Avenue Sunday to watch the U.S. soccer team take on Portugal.

News

Open Space Advocates Eye Dream Greenway in New Canaan

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Open space advocates are eagerly anticipating the sale of a Weed Street property that could lead, if all goes well, to the creation of a pedestrian path connecting Irwin Park to the New Canaan Nature Center. If things pan out as they hope, New Canaan could see a “greenway” from the woods out back of the Nature Center, through New Canaan Land Trust property and all the way to Weed Street and Irwin Park (which itself may eventually connect via sidewalk to the top of Elm)—in other words, a walk-able loop encompassing the heart of downtown New Canaan and all those town treasures along the way. All that’s needed is the transfer to the town of a strategically placed 425-foot strip of land that’s about 15 to 30 feet wide (see map detail at right), according to New Canaan Land Trust Board of Trustees President Chris Schipper. Right now, that strip is part of a property at Weed Street near the intersection of Wahackme that has been on the market for a little over one year. Asked about the status of the property, listing agent Susan Blabey of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty confirmed that there’s an accepted offer and declined to say more, citing the owner’s privacy and the fact that the deal is not yet done.

Government

Town Weighs Future of ‘Audubon House’ at New Canaan Nature Center

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New Canaan is taking steps to help figure out what to do with a largely disused building on Nature Center property that had been operated by what officials call a dissolved nonprofit group. The town had granted a license (not a lease, officials say) to the New Canaan Audubon Society to use Audubon House, which for years has sat in a wooded area near the Visitors Center at the New Canaan Nature Center. New Canaan’s legal advisors say New Canaan now controls that license, since the Audubon Society here dissolved itself, and that it’s a good time to decide whether and how to use Audubon House, since private groups likely are interested in using it, the Board of Selectmen said this week. “Before that happens, let’s get an idea of what that building’s expenses could be, what’s the liability involved in someone else using that building,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said Tuesday during the board’s meeting, held in the training room at the New Canaan Police Department. The selectmen voted unanimously to move toward terminating the formal license with the New Canaan Audubon Society—a change that requires Town Council support.