Around Town

Propane Tanks for Waveny Pool Water Heaters Approved; New Amenity On Track for Memorial Day Weekend Opening

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a plan to bury three propane tanks around Waveny Pool as a first step toward installing water heaters for the upcoming season—a widely anticipated amenity at the popular facility. The Board of Selectmen by a 3-0 vote approved a $15,000 contract between the New Canaan Department of Public Works and Danbury-based Mitchell Gas to install two 1,000-gallon tanks to serve the main pool at Waveny, and a 250-gallon tank for the kiddie pool, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer with the DPW. The funds had been part of an allowance that came with the Waveny Pool’s original approval, he said. The heaters are to be delivered this week and the water should be heated in time for the Waveny Pool’s Memorial Day weekend opening, Recreation Director Steve Benko said during the selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. Selectman Nick Williams called Waveny Pool a “real success story” and noted that Benko and the Park & Recreation Commission had run with a suggestion from the selectmen to re-examine its original economic model.

Around Town

Waveny Park Conservancy Seeks To Raise $2 Million, Start Work on Grounds Next Spring

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Members of a group seeking to raise money for, recommend and help oversee yet-undetermined capital projects across a big chunk of Waveny Park said Wednesday night that they’re seeking to hit $2 million in order to “break ground” after prioritizing plans through the winter. Calling itself the ‘Waveny Park Conservancy,’ the group has “some money in the bank to get us going, and I think we have pretty reasonable ideas and prospects whereby we can raise this $2 million,” its chairman, Bob Seelert, told the Park & Recreation Commission. “I know a lot of people are trying to raise money for a lot of different things in town—this, that and the other thing—so I suppose there is competition for scarce resources,” he said at the commission’s meeting, held in the Douglass Room at Lapham Community Center. “But the reality is if you live in New Canaan, and you’ve been here a long period of time, if you ever have out-of-town guests into your home, you can do two things with them: You can take them down to Elm Street and bring them over to Waveny. And they all sit there and say, ‘Oh my god, what an iconic place this is, it’s a real gem, I wish I lived here.’ So we think there is enthusiasm for what it is we want to do because, in truth, it is for a really noble purpose.”

Inspired by the model of the Central Park Conservancy, the group incorporated on June 11 with the intention of helping Waveny “thrive in perpetuity” for all New Canaanites, according to Seelert, through a public-private partnership.