Government

Police Commission Chair Vows To Support Homeowner Seeking Wider Curb Cut for Driveway

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The chair of the Police Commission said last week that he would sign a letter to the state supporting a New Canaan homeowner’s bid to widen their curb cut along Route 123 by about 30%. 

As it is, the driveway at 507 Smith Ridge Road is 26 feet wide at the curb cut, or four feet wider than what the state Department of Transportation would normally allow, a representative of the homeowner told members of the Police Commission at their Oct. 20 meeting. Saying that traffic on the busy north-south artery often exceeds the posted speed limit, the homeowner is seeking to widen the driveway by eight feet more, to 34 feet total, landscape architect Allan Broadbent said during the meeting, held at New Canaan Police Department headquarters as well as via videoconference. 

Broadbent said his client purchased the property earlier this year “and within several weeks had a few near-misses of almost getting rear-ended.”

“You all know how it is to drive on Smith Ridge,” Broadbent said. “Traffic flies, and so you have to really slam on your brakes to get into the driveway. So I was hired as landscape architect to investigate if we could make that safer.

Around Town

‘We Feel Really Good’: Officials Cut Ribbon on Rebuilt ‘Canaan Parish’ Housing Complex [PHOTOS]

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Officials on Tuesday held a ceremony to mark the opening of the rebuilt housing complex at Route 123 and Lakeview Avenue, part of a larger project that also will see a new structure on the site. Residents of the 60 units at the rebuilt complex started moving into the new building Monday, following issuance of a temporary Certificate of Occupancy, according to New Canaan Housing Authority Chair Scott Hobbs. “We feel really good about the outcome,” Hobbs said Tuesday prior to a formal ribbon-cutting at the new building. Despite COVID- and budget-related holdups, “we are relatively on schedule from where we started,” Hobbs said. “We are extremely happy about the finished product and believe that we have created an exceptional structure for our client/tenant occupants,” he said.

Business

Aesthetic Treatment Business Planned for Main Street

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A new aesthetic treatment business is planned downtown New Canaan, according to an application field with the Planning & Zoning Commission. 

Element Medical Aesthetics PLLC will be located on the third floor of 80 Main St., a commercial building opposite Town Hall, according to a site plan application on file with P&Z. Reached by NewCanaanite.com, business owner Merry Thornton said she’s “excited to be opening Element Medical Aesthetics in New Canaan, as it is a lovely town with a fantastic community.” Element “will offer skincare procedures with treatments such as Botox fillers, chemical peels, and more, in an environment reminiscent of an old apothecary,” she said in an email. “As a Weill-Cornell trained, board certified physician assistant with many years of experience, I look forward to providing the residents of New Canaan with a safe, professional, and welcoming boutique spa to focus on their well-being.” It will open in February 2022, she said. Element will include three rooms for providing aesthetic treatments to customers, each with a sink, and additional fixtures such as treatment chairs and storage cabinets, the application said.

News

Police: Two Cars Stolen from Spring Water Lane Driveway 

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New Canaan Police say home security cameras captured footage of two suspects taking vehicles from a Spring Water Lane driveway at 3:55 a.m. last Thursday. Though the 2018 Subaru Impreza and 2015 Audi Q3 both were locked, a spare key for each vehicle was in the opposite car, according to a press release issued by Police Chief Leon Krolikowski. “It is likely the key fobs detected the unlock button on the side of the door since it was in close proximity to the vehicle,” he said in the release. 

Police were notified of the thefts at about 7:53 a.m. that morning, Krolikowski said. A credit card that was in one of the sole vehicles was later used in Hamden, the chief said. Later that day, at about 8:33 a.m., officers were dispatched to Toquam Road on a report of $60 cash stolen from an unlocked vehicle some time during the night or early morning, according to the chief.