Around Town

‘It’s Been Lovely’: Mike Buttery To Retire from New Canaan Post Office After 37 Years

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The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Carriage Barn Arts Center. Mike Buttery is known to countless New Canaan residents. A local post office worker for the past 37 years, the Newtown resident has spent decades commuting to New Canaan to help residents send mail and packages, buy stamps and access PO boxes. Now, at 56, he is finally ready to retire. “It’s been lovely, I really enjoyed working here,” Buttery told NewCanaanite.com on a recent morning.

Around Town

1913 Library Building Moves Toward New Location

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New Canaan Library has always been a building that turned heads, but for the past couple of days, it has captured the attention of passersby for a different reason. The last remaining portion of the original building, constructed in 1913, has now been moved about 20 feet from its longtime home. Suspended five feet in the air on steel beams, and wrapped in a thick steel cable, the building was carefully inspected last week by workers from Wolfe House & Building Movers as preparations were made to lower the building into its new foundation Tuesday morning. On Monday, the move got underway in earnest, drawing clusters of passersby on a clear, sunny day. Sky and Frances Mercede, New Canaan residents who own the Forever Sweet Bakery in Norwalk, were going on a walk through town when they stopped to take a look at the construction site.

Government

Police Commission Approves New Traffic-Calming Measures for Silvermine Road

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The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Carriage Barn Arts Center. Town officials this month approved several new traffic-calming measures in Silvermine. During its July 19 meeting, members of the Police Commission voted in favor of striping on the side of Silvermine Road—reducing the amount of drivable space, forcing drivers to slow down—a new crosswalk near the Mill Road intersection and a solar-powered “speed sentry,” a speed monitoring device. Police Deputy Chief Andrew Walsh recommended that the striping on Silvermine run from the “intersection at Valley Road to the intersection at Comstock Hill Road.” 

Walsh said police have observed large amounts of foot traffic near the intersection at Mill Road. “It’s definitely highly traversed as a pedestrian, we think it would be safe to have that,” he said during the meeting, held at police headquarters and via videoconference.

Canaan Parish

Officials Cut Ribbon on New Building at Canaan Parish

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The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Carriage Barn Arts Center. Town and state officials on Tuesday cut the ribbon on a newly constructed affordable housing building at Route 123 and Lakeview Avenue. The 40-unit Canaan Parish apartment complex—a joint effort of the town (which owns the land), New Canaan Neighborhoods, Inc. (which owns the building) and developer Heritage Housing, Inc.—represents “phase 2” of a lengthy $46 million remodeling at the town-owned property, the first half of which was completed in 2021. 

New Canaan Housing Authority Chair Scott Hobbs told the 50-plus attendees at the ribbon-cutting ceremony that he’d hoped in the past the new building would help address some of the affordable housing issues the town has faced in recent years. However, during his address, Hobbs said that was no longer the case. “I do feel compelled to discuss what I consider to be an injustice,” he said.

Government

Williams: New Canaan’s ‘Fields Committee’ Should Have More People on It

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The town should increase the number of people sitting on a committee that makes decisions about athletic field’s usage in New Canaan, according to Selectman Nick Williams.

Currently, the Fields Committee is composed of three members—Public Works Director Tiger Mann, Parks and Recreation Director John Howe and New Canaan High School Athletic Director Jay Egan. Two additional members of the public with “an interest in athletics” should join them, Williams said at the July 11 Board of Selectmen meeting. “I’m not saying that the Fields Committee hasn’t done a good job—I’m a huge supporter of Jay Egan, always have been,” Williams said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “We do have only so many fields, and I think we need to look carefully at how those fields are used.”

The comments came during a portion of the meeting dedicated to general matters before the town. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan also was in attendance.