Town Officials Approve $132,000 Contract To Improve Country Club Road

Following complaints from residents of the neighborhood, officials on Tuesday approved a $132,000 contract with a New Canaan company to improve an important local road.

The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 at its regular meeting to approve the contract with New Canaan-based Peter Lanni, Inc. for improvements to Country Club Road. According to Director of Public Works Tiger Mann, the work will solve problems such as drainage issues and “alligatoring,” which occurs when a pavement surface develops interconnected cracks resembling alligator skin.

Mann told the selectmen at the meeting, held in Town Hall, that the project was in response to “a series of complaints and requests” that had been received “from residents in the area.”

The final contract price was lower than the initial bid received from Peter Lanni Inc., Mann said. It had come in initially at around $161,000, he said.

Mann said that number “was a little bit high.” To reduce the cost, the DPW removed a portion of the project that would have involved resurfacing the entire roadway up to the center line, he said.

“Given that it’s late in the season,” Mann said, the resurfacing portion will instead be carried out next spring. 

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams voted in favor of the contract. The total approved figure of $115,360 includes $17,000 in contingency funding. 

Williams noted that the other bid the DPW had received was approximately double Lanni’s. 

“You usually don’t get that kind of disparity,” he said. 

Mann agreed, adding that the chosen bid was “in line with what [Peter Lanni Inc’s] previous pricing has been.” 

“We know the number that he gave us is a good number,” Mann said. “If [the other bidder] were the only bid we would not be doing the project.”