Government

Kiwanis Beach Pass Sales Up 14% in 2022

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One of New Canaan’s most unique if somewhat unknown recreational facilities saw a steep rise in activity this summer, officials say. 

The town sold 505 beach passes to Kiwanis Park for the 2022 season, “more than in recent years,” Parks & Recreation Commission Hank Green said. The figure is up 14% over last summer, Green said during the appointed body’s regular meeting, held Sept. 14 at Town Hall. 

“It was a great summer for Kiwanis Park,” he said while presenting an update on the Old Norwalk Road park to the Commission. Recreation officials noted in July that new residents of New Canaan are discovering Kiwanis and enjoying its beach, spring water-fed swimming hole, basketball courts and general freedom. The 14-acre park also includes a pavilion, facilities such as restrooms, a deck with picnic tables and play structures for kids.

Bea Watkins

‘It’s Something Different’: Activity and Attendance Up at Kiwanis Park, Officials Say

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Though no formal numbers are available, officials say Kiwanis Park is seeing a higher level of activity that it has in years. 

Original programming for the Old Norwalk Road park and its special appeal to new residents coming from the city, with its beach and swimming hole, are behind the increase in attendance, officials said during this month’s Parks & Recreation Commission meeting. “New residents are excited about it,” Recreation Office Manager Bea Watkins said at the July 13 meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. “It’s something different. They’re coming from the city. The freedom and the basketball and everything else that it offers—they’re thrilled.”

The comments came during Parks & Recreation Director John Howe’s general update to the Commission. 

Commissioner Hank Green said, “I want to give a shout-out to Kiwanis Park.

Government

Town Contemplates Movies, New Water Activities at Kiwanis Park

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The town’s plans for public use of Kiwanis Park may include movies and water-related programs at the swimming hole there, officials say. As it is, the Old Norwalk Road park is well-designed to serve younger children, and recreation officials are working to develop new programming that could help draw older kids, too, according to interim Parks & Recreation Director John Howe. “We’re changing some of our programs,” Howe told members of the Board of Selectmen at their April 19 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “We are going to try to do more things down there, get some life back into Kiwanis.”

He added, “Kiwanis works great for little kids, because they can walk in and out of the sand and they have all that sensory stuff they can do with sand. And then they kind of gravitate toward the pool as they get older.”

Kiwanis Park, like the Steve Benko Pool at Waveny, opens Memorial Day weekend.

Francesca Segalas

After Lengthy Discussion, Parks & Rec Votes 8-1 To Have Kiwanis Sign Repainted

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Parks officials last week voted 8-1 to repaint the sign at the entrance of Kiwanis Park on Old Norwalk Road. The approximately 20-year-old sign—the first in what has become New Canaan’s standard for public parks, brown with white lettering—is “gorgeous” though also “old and faded and dilapidated,” Parks & Recreation Commission Chair Rona Siegel said during the appointed body’s regular meeting, held May 12 via videoconference. Recreation Director Steve Benko and Public Works Director Tiger Mann proposed retaining the brown post and frame of the sign while changing its inset to the same blue as a sign by Kiwanis Park’s swimming hole, and going over its lettering with white reflective paint. Commissioner Francesca Segalas—whose house is located 433 feet from the entrance to Kiwanis, according to Google Maps—led a 23-minute discussion about the sign. 

She opposed the change. “I know that every one of our park signs are brown with white writing and the Kiwanis sign, when we talked about it popping, we talked about just reflective white paint going where the writing is,” Segalas said.

Board of Selectmen

Moynihan: Vacant Town-Owned Building in Kiwanis Park Could House Animal Shelter

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First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said Tuesday that a town-owned structure in Kiwanis Park could be converted for about $50,000 into a shelter for housing stray and neglected domestic animals. Moynihan said he and members of the Parks & Recreation Commission are “investigating” whether a vacant house in the Old Norwalk Road park could be used for a New Canaan Police Department Animal Control shelter. He told fellow members of the Board of Selectmen that the elected body should decide on a use for the vinyl-sided single-story building as it starts the budget for next fiscal year. The New Canaan YMCA used the house as a base of operations for its summer camp in Kiwanis in 2020, “and we are also in discussions with the Y about possibly having a public-private partnership with respect to the operation fo Kiwanis during the summer,” Moynihan said during a regular Board meeting, held via videoconference. 

“We have to make a decision as to whether or not we need to make a change before we commit the Kiwanis house to the YMCA for their summer use, which would be an 8-week to 10-week use in the summertime,” Moynihan said. “It’s a house that could be converted into an animal shelter with the benefit of having an outdoor run, which makes sense.”

The comments came during the selectmen’s discussion of general matters before the town.