Caffeine & Carburetors

Parks & Rec Votes 11-0 To Approve Oct. 20 ‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ at Waveny

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[Note: This article has been corrected with the Oct. 20 date for Caffeine & Carburetors.]

Saying “safety” concerns had been addressed, town officials last week voted unanimously to approve an Oct. 20 Caffeine & Carburetors show at Waveny. During her last meeting as head of the Parks & Recreation Commission, Chair Sally Campbell said she was satisfied that plans for the popular gathering of auto enthusiasts included provisions for pedestrian safety, a limit on the number of vehicles and clear directions for where attendees should park. “This is good, I think it’s great,” Campbell said during the Commission’s March 13 meeting, held at Town Hall.

Government

Officials Approve $30,000 Contract for Fireworks at Waveny

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a $30,000 contract with a Douglassville, Pa.-based pyrotechnic company to put on the fireworks show at the Waveny July 4th event this summer. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of the contract with International Fireworks Mfg. Co., which has supplied fireworks for the massively popular Family Fourth event for four decades, Recreation Director and Family Fourth Committee member Steve Benko said during the Board’s regular meeting. Selectman Nick Williams asked whether the town would ever consider “doing music with the fireworks.”

Tom Stadler, chairman of the Family Fourth, said the question has come up over the years. 

“It’s been suggested, just like Macys and some of the others that while the fireworks are exploding in the air, boom boom boom, we have choreographed music,” Stadler said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “We brought that to the committee and the committee has not been receptive to that.

Government

Town Officials Approve Baseball Storage Shed for Little League Fields at Mead Park

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Town officials last week approved the purchase and installation of a storage shed at Mead Park that will serve new partially turfed little league baseball fields. 

The Board of Selectmen at its Feb. 26 meeting voted unanimously in favor of the $6,165.40 project, to be paid for New Canaan Baseball, a nonprofit organization that runs youth baseball in town. The 12-by-18 foot shed will be located at the end of the parking lot that runs along Mellick Field’s right field line, Recreation Director Steve Benko told the selectmen at their meeting, held in Town Hall. “And they would keep the portable pitching mounds and some of the other equipment,” Benko said. “And we now have turf infields so there is a need for more maintenance on a weekly bases to put down rubber as kids slide and wear it out.

Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Table Vote After Learning of Non-Public ‘Meeting’ of Parks & Rec

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[March 1 note: After this article was published, the chair of Parks & Rec said in an email that Carl Mason and Steve Haberstroh did not attend the Friday meeting of the “Tennis Committee,” and that the gathering didn’t constitute such a committee meeting.]

The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voted unanimously to postpone a vote on a proposed set of fees for tennis passes at Mead Park this summer after learning that the government body behind the proposal came up with the figures during a meeting held out of the public eye. Each year, the Parks & Recreation Commission reviews what the town charges for different types of tennis passes at Mead and makes a recommendation to the selectmen ahead of the season. The fees proposed for this year originated with a Parks & Rec “tennis committee” that met Friday, according to Recreation Director Steve Benko, who presented the item to the selectmen. That revelation led First Selectman Kevin Moynihan to say he was “confused by the process here.” “You said there was a meeting last Friday,” Moynihan said during the Board’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall.

Government

With Interest in Tennis Waning, Town Officials Pursue New Uses for Mead Park Courts, Racquet Club Partnership 

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Town officials are looking to forge a new partnership with the New Canaan Racquet Club and also find some new uses for the under-utilized tennis courts at Mead Park in order to boost attendance there. 

In 2018, New Canaan sold 112 season passes for the clay courts, bringing in about $10,000 in revenues against $14,000 just to open the facility and thousands for more attendants, according to the Parks & Recreation Commission. 

“There is a considerable shortfall on tennis that the town has to make up,” Commissioner Carl Mason said during the appointed body’s Feb. 13 meeting at Town Hall. “Even if we were to look at some of our better years, looking back at 2015 or so, we have a shortfall.”

Though tennis instruction clinics bring in some money, they effectively just “cover their costs” and it’s hard to justify redoing the clay courts for an estimated $140,000 “without any real hard data on usage,” Mason said. 

“We are really not finding any champions for tennis in New Canaan at this point in time,” Mason said while presenting the full Commission with an update on the eight Mead Park courts. 

The Commission should consider whether all of those courts must be dedicated to tennis, given the low demand, or whether “we can convert those courts for other sports,” Mason said. 

“One thing that has been discussed is pickle ball. The hard court is maybe a venue for pickle ball. Or maybe even volleyball, basketball or a flexible field on one of the Har-Tru courts.”

Recreation officials also have met with the New Canaan Racquet Club to talk about a new partnership.