Government

Town Upholds $150 Ticket Issued to Local Man Who Parked in Disabled Space

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Town officials came to a unanimous decision in June to uphold a $150 parking ticket issued to a 42-year New Canaan resident who parked in a disabled space downtown. Yuosef Malekzedah, 81, was taking his daughter’s Jeep into town when he felt the need to use the restroom, he told members of the Parking Commission during a June 14 appeal hearing, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. With all of the spaces surrounding the Mobil gas station full, he made the decision to park in a nearby handicap space, Malekzedah said. “I couldn’t go into the gas station because a gasoline tanker was there,” he said. “I parked in a handicapped for a few minutes and went to bathroom and I came back and got a ticket.”

In his written appeal, filed May 23, Malekzedah said that he takes three different medications to treat a chronic condition.

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.