Government

New Canaan Land Trust, Nature Center to Open ‘GreenLink Trail’ at Earth Day Celebration

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The New Canaan Land Trust and the New Canaan Nature Center will officially open the new GreenLink Trail, a 2.5-mile walking loop that connects the nature center, downtown and Irwin Park, at an Earth Day celebration on April 22 running from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Recreation Director Steve Benko announced at the Parks & Recreation Commission’s most recent meeting. The free family- (and dog-) friendly event will include “Signs of Spring” nature walks, a tree identification workshop, bird shows, a beekeeping demonstration, youth-friendly activities, food trucks and a family photo fundraiser at Irwin Park to benefit the New Canaan Garden Center, Benko said at the March 14 meeting, held in the Lapham Community Center. The GreenLink Trail crosses three of the New Canaan Land Trust’s properties and was completed with support from the New Canaan Community Foundation, he said. To make the trail safe for pedestrians, Benko told the Commission that a police officer will be hired to direct traffic at Weed Street and Wahackme Road. “It’s really a dangerous intersection and I felt really strongly about having a police officer there to help people cross,” he said.

Around Town

Summer Theatre of New Canaan Mulling Alternate Sites for Future Seasons

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As the 15th season of the Summer Theater of New Canaan approaches, Executive Producer Ed Libonati told the Parks and Recreation Commission at its regular meeting last week that moving to another location within or outside of Waveny Park for future seasons is a possibility. The discussion came up as Libonati provided details about the company’s upcoming season, which includes an expanded five-week run of “Kiss Me Kate” starting June 28 and performances of “Peter Pan,” “Balloonacy,” and “James and the Giant Peach” by the Theatre for Young Audience starting on June 23. Libonati said that while the company saw 99 to 100 percent capacity for the main stage performances and 75 to 80 percent capacity for the children’s performances last season, the location of the tent and the activities surrounding it has created a few challenges. “During the summer, we bring a tent and we set it up in a field across from one of the softball fields and, this year, the fields are being repaired, which is creating some issues with getting tent up properly, so we’re working that out now with [Public Works Director] Tiger [Mann] and [Parks Superintendent] John [Howe] to make sure everything works out well,” he said during the March 14 meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. “We’re fit into a very tight spot there between the woods, the gas pipeline, and three football fields.

Government

Parks Officials Approve Formation of ‘Dog Litter Committee’

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To address the ongoing complaints about dog owners and walkers failing to clean up after their pets at Irwin and Waveny Parks, the Parks and Recreation Commission unanimously approved at its meeting Tuesday night the formation of a committee of six volunteers who will be permitted to place “Shame on You” flags where animals’ feces are left behind and administer waste bags to those who need them. The Dog Litter Committee members approved by the commission include: Jean Scheidl, Linda Gordon, Lise Schoenfield, Lynn Tilon, Meredith Landis, and Christina Thompson. Commission member Francesca Segalas—who formed a subcommittee with members Hank Green and Steve Haberstoh to help coordinate the “Dog Poo Initiative”—spoke on behalf of the Dog Litter Committee members, who were not present at the meeting, about how Irwin Park visitors are responding to the flags. “The reception has been very positive. There’ve been a few dissenters—maybe one in 10,” she said at the meeting, held in Lapham Community Center.

Government

Citing Need for Decision on Future Use, Finance Board Puts Off $50,000 Study of Former Outback Building

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Saying that the town first must decide how the building will be used, members of New Canaan’s funding bodies decided last week to put off a vote on $50,000 in studies that would be needed in order to make repairs and code-compliant upgrades to the former Outback Teen Center building. It’s too early to discuss an investment in architectural and engineering plans for what some now call the ‘Town Hall Annex’ when its future use remains unclear, Board of Finance members Todd Lavieri and George Blauvelt said at the group’s regular meeting, held Tuesday at Town Hall. Town Councilman Steve Karl voiced that thought during the legislative body’s regular meeting the following night. “This is about a building and about a hardship, basically, that the town inherited—we inherited what amounts to a dilapidated barn and we need to figure out what is a post-and-beam barn that is 17 years old with two bathrooms, how much is a couple of bathrooms and a barn worth?” Karl said at the meeting, held at Town Hall. “And there is no property underneath it, because it’s the town’s property.

Government

Board of Finance to Keep 2 Percent Budget Increase as ‘Strong Guideline’ for Town Departments

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Members of the Board of Finance on Tuesday night discussed the effectiveness of an October memo instructing all departments to present their budget proposals for next fiscal year with no more than a 2 percent budget increase, especially in light of Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi last week opened Board of Education budget talks with a request for a 3.5 percent increase. Finance board member Colleen Baldwin said during the group’s regular meeting that while there were discussions before the memo was sent about making the 2 percent a “hard number,” the idea was eventually scrapped “for this very reason.”

Instead, she said that the number was “put out as a starting discussion” with a strong suggestion that the budgets should be presented with “no more than 2 percent.”

But member Thomas Schulte questioned whether the departments are taking the memo seriously enough, considering the financials challenges that the both the town and the state are facing in the coming years and urged the board to bring up these concerns at department meetings. “We tried to do our best to share with them the concerns that we had,” he said at the meeting, held at Town Hall. “I think that the world is very different. It is a more expensive one for people to pay their state and local taxes [in]…and we can’t ignore that, and I think [in terms of] real world budgeting, all of the departments need to be aware of that—whether they’re halfway or all the way through creating their budgets.