New Canaanites (for the first time since late April) were treated to fall weather this past week, with crisp, cool mornings and evenings, one of which many locals spent in the stands at Dunning Stadium, to watch the varsity NCHS football team’s home opener.
From the May Caffeine & Carburetors event downtown. Credit: Michael Dinan
The parking lot outside Dunning could see some auto enthusiasts pull in next month, as officials this week approved a special trial run at Waveny of the popular Caffeine & Carburetors for Oct. 19.
The playing fields at Waveny also made headlines this week, as the heretofore under-the-radar Youth Sports Committee called for more equal time for all sports in terms of practices and games, and especially for a more rigidly structured and transparent system for how the private organizations that run youth sports contribute back to the town, including through field upgrades and upkeep.
Here’s the Week in Review.
Members of the Youth Sports Committee at its Sept. 15 meeting at NCPD: Doug Perlman, Tara Clough and Sally Campbell. Credit: Michael Dinan
Town Talker
The Youth Sports Committee—a Board of Selectmen-appointed panel that oversees all youth sports in town—met this week, and set a high bar for its agenda. In addition to getting financial statements from all of the private organizations that arrange for and operate youth sports in town, the committee will pursue a marketing plan, improve fields scheduling software and keep an eye on Title IX matters.
Perhaps most importantly, the committee could make mandatory a per-player fee (which organizations now are contributing voluntarily) for fields upkeep. Rather than leaving it to the private organizations to pay for upgrades, officials said, those groups could make a contribution to the town’s General Fund that would be vetted and then allocated, as needed, to the parks department.
Here come the Rams. (Terry Dinan photo)
Schools
District officials say they worked with NCHS students this past spring to come up with a new format for the annual Pep Rally, held the Friday of Spirit Week as the school heads into Homecoming Weekend.
The tradition has devolved into a rather bawdy display of dancing among seniors before the entire school, and is attended by students who use alcohol, making it undesirable and unsafe as currently planned, according to Acting NCHS Principal Dr. Veronica LeDuc. Yet students decided not to suggest anything new this year, prompting the administration to cancel it, LeDuc said.
That prompted several hundred students to launch and sign a petition that is available online, here.
Mill Pond. Credit: Michael Dinan
Government
An administrative team in charge of special events in New Canaan gave the green light to an October installment of Caffeine & Carburetors at Waveny.
Town officials also gave an update on the Main Street sidewalk extension down Old Norwalk Road to Kiwanis Park, saying it will wrap up within two weeks. Another project is underway down at Mill Pond—a dredge of the pond itself that costs about $10,000 and is done every two years.
Land Use
Realtors from different offices in New Canaan gathered this week to talk about what’s happening with the town’s “Upper East Side,” which is seeing more inventory than other areas in town despite good values, a wide range of styles and amenities such as quick access to Wilton Center, as well as New Canaan.
Kelly Kraus of Barbara Cleary’s Realty Guild in New Canaan. Credit: Michael Dinan
Assessing what’s happening with local real estate, some say that the “must-live-in-town” craze that has fueled the residential market here for a decade may have come at the cost of showcasing other and equally worthy parts of town.
A Sept. 28 cross-firm Open House promotion is planned for the area north of 106 and east of Smith Ridge, which makes up much of the East School district.
Also in the big bucket of Land Use/Real Estate was an interesting discussion at a Town Council meeting this past week regarding one Lukes Wood Road family’s efforts to secure as their own a parcel near the road that they want in order to complete a stone wall enclosing their property there. The problem is that it’s town-owned, and though officials see no use for it, there’s no rule on the books that easily allows New Canaan to transfer the property to the family, such as making an exception to its explicit encroachment regulation. An Oct. 15 public hearing date is set for the potential sale of the .1-acre parcel for $45,000.
New Canaan’s Sterling O’Hara. (Terry Dinan photo)
Sports
New Canaan’s varsity football team, including the all-time sack leader, returned home from a 2014-15 season opening win, to defeat Bassick in front of a large crowd at Dunning.
Public Safety
Police say that they’re seeing steep increases in the numbers of family disputes, including domestic violence incidents, reported to the department.