Animal 411

New Take on Existing Rule Bans Dogs Outright from Town Hall

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A new interpretation of an existing local ordinance is raising hackles among some residents long accustomed to entering Town Hall with their canine pets in tow. In years past, during this the licensing season for dogs, the animals were allowed to enter the Town Clerk’s office with their owners when renewing a license or getting a new one. But with the reopening of Town Hall following a major renovation and addition, New Canaan is enforcing more strictly a rule that’s been on the books for 12 years—a disappointment to Town Clerk Claudia Weber. “It has been a time-honored tradition to come to the Town Clerk’s office every year with your dogs to get your dog license, and we give out biscuits,” Weber said. “When I first became Town Clerk [in 1998], I started something called the ‘Make Your Beagle Legal,’ and people would come in and I try to make that a mandated event, something that was fun and it gave government kind of a warm and friendly face.”

Yet section 6.8.D of the Town Code now is being strictly enforced, as several ‘No Dogs Allowed’ signs at 77 Main St.

Government

‘By the Time We Caught It, It Was Too Late’: No Urinals in Men’s Rooms at Town Hall

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Sightline, space and cost issues prompted the architects who designed the estimated $13 million renovation and expansion of Town Hall to leave out urinals in the men’s rooms—something that officials say they will work to rectify in future years. Members of the Town Hall Building Committee—a group of local volunteers, including experts in building and architecture, who helped steer the project at 77 Main St.—caught the lack of urinals during a walkthrough three months ago, “but it was already built,” according to First Selectman Rob Mallozzi, who served on the committee. “It’s not the end of the world,” Mallozzi said. “It’s a design oversight by the architects … There is no excuse for it, but they built us a beautiful building and when we went in there, the thing was already built and all the plumbing was hooked up.”

The firm, KSQ Architects, has agreed to provide a design plan at no cost to the town that will specify how to retrofit the bathrooms (there are men’s rooms on the first and second floors) for urinals, Mallozzi said. There are janitor’s closets on each floor that may provide space that’s useful for that redesign, he said.

Government

Officials To Decide Whether To Allow Lawn Signs in front of Town Hall

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With a renovated and expanded Town Hall re-opening and increased foot traffic expected at 77 Main St. as more municipal departments move back in through the summer, officials are opening the question of whether promotional signs should be allowed on its front lawn. A drop in requests to place lawn signs out front of Town Hall in recent months may be attributed to the recent construction there, and landscaping plans call for a more park-like feel that may not lend itself to signage, officials said Tuesday during the Board of Selectmen meeting. Though rules are in place about just what events or causes can be promoted on Town Hall’s front lawn (local), what types of organizations it’s meant for (mostly nonprofit) and what styles of signs may be used, the town has never set a cap on how many signs can be put there at one time, officials say. “My personal opinion is that we have a beautiful Town Hall—Keith Simpson and the Beautification League are doing a wonderful job in designing a landscape,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said during the meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department.

Government

Tree Warden’s Plan for ‘Quintessential New England’ Sugar Maples at Town Hall Thwarted

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Despite his reservations about the appropriateness of a Norway maple that’s breaking apart in front of Town Hall, the tree warden reluctantly is allowing the large tree to remain after a resident complained about its being tagged for removal. Tree Warden Bruce Pauley had intended to plant a pair of matching, six-inch caliber sugar maples on either side of the walkway up in front of Town Hall—the “quintessential New England tree,” he said. “I would have spaced them out so they have plenty of room to grow, without interfering with anything,” Pauley, a fourth-generation New Canaanite, told NewCanaanite.com. “They have a fantastic color in the fall, they are strong and vibrant and I would want them out there.”

Yet town resident Andrea Sandor, on seeing that the Norway maple had been tagged for removal, objected strenuously to Pauley and other officials. In emails, Sandor called the Norway maple “an important” and “legacy tree” that “provides an anchor for the rural nature of the town.”

The tree is highly visible, Sandor said in her emails, offers shade and “is in a great location to be nurtured.” Sandor said the Norway maple has been poorly pruned and objected to the tree’s being tagged for removal while construction fencing had obstructed her view of the tag and, consequently, her ability to call for a hearing on it.

Government

Town Eyes 14 Parking Spots at Red Cross Building for Municipal Employees

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The town will sign a land lease with the Red Cross to gain about 15 parking spaces for town employees out back of the organization’s Main Street building, and also re-designate some 20 spaces in the Park Street lot that now are being used by construction workers, in order to keep all the parking directly behind the renovated and expanded Town Hall for visitors, officials say. By the time Town Hall is fully reoccupied this summer, the number of spaces for visitors will more than double, from 14 to 30, according to the Town Hall Building Committee. “The good news is that we will have more visitor parking than before,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said at the group’s March 23 meeting, held in the Lamb Room at New Canaan Library. Municipal departments located now above Walter Stewart’s—such as the Assessor, Town Clerk, Registrars of Voters and Tax Collector—will start re-occupying the renovated and expanded 1909 building in early May. The estimated $13 million project, whose price tag is closer to $18 million given costs such as renting temporary offices during construction, remains on budget, the Building Committee said.