A pair of muggy, humid days visited New Canaan this week (dog owners beware, deer ticks love that weather and won’t go away until we got our first good frost), as the undefeated varsity football team took a bye-week and we had a heavy few days of municipal meetings that featured the Police Commission and Town Council, with important updates coming in from the district and New Canaan Library.
Here’s the Week in Review.
Recently ticketed vehicles on Elm Street in New Canaan. Credit: Michael Dinan
Town Talker
New Canaan parking officials long have known that employees in the downtown are the primary and “chronic” violators of rules and restrictions that govern coveted spots for motorists.
In recent months, ideas floated to combat a separate but related problem whereby workers (not shoppers or diners) are taking up most of the free spaces on Mail and Elm in the heart of downtown New Canaan have included a restriction where a motorist cannot park more than once per day in the central business district.
Elm Street on the evening of July 16, 2014. Credit: Michael Dinan
The difficulty with that restriction is that non-workers (say, someone who parks once to grab a coffee in the morning and then comes back for a bit of shopping later in the day) would be caught up in it, parking enforcement officials have said.
Now, the Parking Bureau has license plate readers that may help gather data to create a viable enforcement plan that still doesn’t force those who oversee parking to single out workers versus non-workers (which they’re not allowed to do).
Kristina Larson stands near five piles of salvaged original wood from the ca. 1910 barn her family is restoring on their Ponus Ridge property. Credit: Michael Dinan
Resident Spotlight
We reported this week on a unique home improvement project that’s garnered a lot of curiosity from passersby on Ponus Ridge. Located directly across the street from West School is the Larsons’ home. Out back, a ca. 1910 barn restoration project is underway that is seeing the family—relatively new to the town, as they moved here about 18 months ago, though they’ve been members of a faith community in New Canaan for longer—use lumber from dead or dying trees on their own property to rebuild the structure.
NCHS woodworking teacher Ashley O’Connor at the Larsons, picking out pieces for her students to use. Credit: Michael Dinan
The excess wood is being chopped up and sold as kindling by the youngest of the three Larson boys (a West Schooler), while other pieces are being used by a woodworking teacher at New Canaan High School, the New Canaan Land Trust and other groups.
One more resident spotlight note: This week, NCHS volleyball star Gracie Castle, and football standout Michael Kraus earned “NewCanaanite.com Athlete of the Week” honors—congratulations!
Downtown
Locals are eager to see what vision architects are sketching for the newly rebuilt New Canaan Library. We learned this week that, as the capital campaign for the cherished downtown facility gets underway, a key piece of information is in the hands of the library as they seek donations from generous New Canaanites supporting the project. Specifically, a fundraising feasibility study has put the amount to be raised at $25 million, library officials told the Town Council Wednesday, and an attendant vision of a future facility will follow.
Looking west along the Merritt Parkway from the Lapham Road overpass on Oct. 14, 2014. Credit: Michael Dinan
Quality of Life
Residents learned at “Pizza with the Chief” on Tuesday that the Merritt Parkway—where accidents have gone up since Jersey barriers put in place to allow for sorely needed capital upgrades on the already-narrow state motorway have further squeezed in traffic—that the barriers will be in place for at least two more years at various stretches through New Canaan. After a stretch of Stamford-New Canaan is upgraded, DOT officials say, the segment directly east, New Canaan-Norwalk, will be addressed.
Town officials voted in October 2014 to spend $6,500 repairing the asphalt at this practice tennis court in Mead Park. Credit: Michael Dinan
Tennis players who use the practice court at Mead Park will see their area—now with cracked asphalt and largely unusable because of it—get an upgrade.
And another town park, Irwin, is set to become an even more splendid spring and summer sight as the New Canaan Garden Club plans not only for a new wildflower meadow but also a grove of dogwood trees near its northwest corner.
Land Use
The New Canaan Building Department this week issued a building permit for a prominent South Avenue lot as well as for an inconspicuous parcel on Smith Ridge Road, where a new home is planned at what amounts to a brand-new street address.
Schools
The interim superintendent of schools supplied a comprehensive update of goings-on in the district to the Town Council, and was asked for his thoughts on recently released school-by-school 2014 SAT score rankings. Dr. Bryan Luizzi said that while the district looks at comparative data as it seeks always to improve, that single data points—even flattering ones, such as the New Canaan is 4th in the state in SAT scoring currently—fall well short of a full picture of the schools’ performance.
South School parents and administrators are opening up a conversation with town traffic officials about whether something can be done to create safer pedestrian passage across Route 106 at Gower Road.
The district’s survey of New Canaan Public Schools parents is still live, and will be through Oct. 20. Find it here.
George Zabrodsky. Credit: Terry Dinan
Our Animals
A dog in North Wilton Road—a yellow Labrador retriever—this week bit the mailman, and we profiled George the Shar Pei, a regular on Waveny’s trails.
Public Safety
It’s been a busy week for police, as they investigate a brazen Friday afternoon burglary that involved a ‘tree care’ scam and multiple suspects as well as several other cases, including: electronics stolen from a car parked in a Siwanoy Lane driveway and $60,000 in jewelry stolen from a local home.
Police also reported the ticketing of a New Canaan teen found to have a small amount of marijuana in his car during a motor vehicle stop on South Avenue, and the arrest of a Bridgeport resident and New Canaan nanny who faces charges after forging her employers’ signatures on stolen checks.