Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Approve Request To Spend $7,500 on Non-Refundable Deposit for Ice Rink Materials

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Though they haven’t yet recommended a specific trial site, those pursuing an open-air ice rink in New Canaan are readying to purchase used equipment for the facility that will save hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved a request to put $7,500 in privately raised funds held in a town account toward a 60-by-120-foot ice rink and accessory equipment. The non-refundable deposit is for a rink that the Fairfield County Hunt Club is selling for $75,000, according to Gene Goodman, who has spent more than one year as a member of the Parks & Recreation Commission spearheading efforts to study what would be needed to create an outdoor rink facility and where it may go. “Having looked at every site in this town, every site has its plusses and minuses,” Goodman told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held in Town Hall. “No one is an absolute clear hands-down winner.

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‘I’m Not Optimistic’: State Rep Says New Canaan Likely To Lose Parking on Main Street 

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New Canaan likely won’t be able to negotiate a way around losing several parking spaces on Main Street downtown, as per a state statute that prohibits spots near crosswalks, officials said this week. After speaking with Connecticut Department of Transportation officials, state Rep. Tom O’Dea (R-125th) said that “obtaining waiver is probably not likely.”

O’Dea told members of the Police Commission during their regular meeting Wednesday that he intends to schedule a meeting with the DOT that includes New Canaan’s delegation to the General Assembly. “It is a statute, or regulation, that we have to try to get an exemption from,” O’Dea said during the meeting, held at the New Canaan Police Department. 

“What we are going to try and bring up is what other possible things we can do to address their safety concerns with having crosswalk and parking spots where they are currently, whether that be some sort of lighting or some sort of reflective things, but I would say I’m not optimistic I will be able to change their position.”

After a town resident complained to the DOT regarding New Canaan’s failure to observe a 1949 state law that prohibits parking within 25 feet of a marked crosswalk at an intersection, state officials pushed for immediately compliance. (The stretch of Main Street from Cherry to Locust Avenue doubles in parts as state Routes 106 and 124.) The town hired a Fairfield-based transportation consultant to study the area, and that firm returned last month with a new parking configuration that would limit the loss of parking to six net spaces. The Commission decided to hold off a vote on that plan, pending O’Dea’s input. 

O’Dea said the response from the DOT regarding its insistence that New Canaan comply with the law where perhaps other municipalities are not is, “Well, we have not received complaint or we are not aware of them, and they don’t have the staff to go inspect this situation.”

“So that is kind of where we are,” he said.

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Parks Officials Propose Ice Rink in New Canaan

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Parks officials are proposing a seasonal, open-aired ice rink in New Canaan that would be open to the public with an admission charge. To be used primarily for recreational ice skating and limited sports practice, the rink should be located on town property, preferably in a public park, under a proposal developed by Gene Goodman of the Parks & Recreation Commission. Funded under a public-private partnership similar to the self-sustaining Waveny Pool, the facility would run from late-November through February for two trial seasons in order to gauge public interest, costs and appropriate rink size, and out-of-towners would be charged higher admission fees, according to a summary provided by Goodman, who has led the appointed body’s efforts to study the possibility of a rink for nearly one year. Though the project is too early-stage for the Commission or another town body to ask for funding or formal approval to pursue the rink—that process will require multiple public hearings and sign-off from the selectmen, Board of Finance, Town Council and likely the Planning & Zoning Commission—Parks & Rec members at their Jan. 9 meeting “agreed that this would be a benefit to our town and agreed that we should proceed to next steps,” according to Goodman.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The Greenwich Free Press is reporting that an arrest warrant has been issued for Heidi Lueders, a former town resident and head of a pit bull rescue organization who has been identified as the subject of an animal cruelty case in Fairfield. 

***

New Canaan Police through the department’s Instagram account has issued safety tips for residents making online purchases in order to avoid becoming a victim of package theft. They include signing up for delivery alerts, ensuring someone is ready to collect the package, requiring a signature when possible and having packages sent to a workplace if feasible. ***

Asked about the Tourism and Economic Development Commission he plans to create, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said locals have expressed strong interest in joining and that, after candidates are approved by local town political committees, the group will see about 15 total members. ***

The town on Wednesday issued an after-the-fact building permit for a $10,000 job at a Putnam Road home. A new bathroom with a shower had been installed in the basement of the home by New Canaan-based Hoffman Contracting LLC, the permit said.

Election 2018

Election 2018: O’Dea Retains State House Seat As Haskell, Dathan Oust Incumbents [UPDATING]

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Update 9 a.m. Wednesday

The governor’s race appears to be over. NBC Connecticut and other news outlets are reporting that GOP candidate Bob Stefanowski has conceded to Democrat Ned Lamont. Separately, Greenwich Time newspaper has called the state Senate’s 36th District for Alexandra “Alex” Bergstein. It isn’t clear whether the result is official or if the incumbent Republican state Sen. Scott Frantz has conceded. Original Article

About 70 percent of New Canaan voters cast ballots on a cold, rainy Election Day, a high midterm turnout that saw local Democrats flip at least two seats in the state legislature that long have been held by Republicans.