The Department of Public Works is poised to improve a series of trails in Waveny, installing material that drains better than the layers of woodchips and topsoil long in place, using $150,000 awarded through a state grant program.
A footpath in the woods of Waveny Park in New Canaan. Credit: Darcy Pennoyer Smith
The Board of Selectmen on Wednesday approved 3-0 the town’s contract with Norwalk-based New England Paving. State Bond Commission funds are coming through the Small Town Economic Assistance Program (or “STEAP”), which helps Connecticut towns ineligible for Urban Action bonds with quality of life projects.
The work will involve excavating what DPW Assistant Director Tiger Mann called “soggy and boggy” woodchips and replacing those with a “nicer, free-draining material that will compact and stay in place.”
“We are kind of renovating it,” Mann said at the meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department.
Selectman Beth Jones asked whether the work would be done on existing trails and Mann said yes, a number of trails have been done already and this new work will focus on a new segment.
First Selectman Rob Mallozzi asked Mann how comfortable he was with the small contingency—$5,000, far less than the usually 10 or 15 percent—built into the $150,000 total. Mann said the DPW could tailor the scope of the project as needed, noting that the STEAP grant limit is $150,000.
Selectman Nick Williams asked when the asphalt road that runs through Waveny was expected to be repaved. Mann said that DPW had eyed a date prior to the Family Fourth celebration this year but was unable to get that done, so the project is slated for next summer before the popular Fourth of July fireworks, picnic and family fun day at Waveny.