Country Club of New Canaan

Country Club Seeks P&Z Approval To Alter Parts of Golf Course

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The Country Club of New Canaan is seeking permission from the town to overhaul parts of its golf course. According to a letter submitted to Planning & Zoning on behalf of CCNC, the club is seeking to alter the course’s “18th hole tee and green locations and reconfiguration of the cart paths”—areas interior to the site that can’t be seen from the road. “The driving range will be enlarged, regraded and new netting will be installed,” according to a letter that forms part of an application to the Planning & Zoning Commission, authorized by attorney Stephen A. Finn, a partner at Stamford-based Wofsey Rosen. “A new chipping practice area will be constructed in the place of the greenskeeper house.”

The project “will significantly increase the safety of other golfers from users of the driving range and chipping area,” Finn’s letter said. “The current net protection for the range is inadequate and results in practice shots endangering players on the first and second holes. As a result, it is imperative that CCNC provide additional protection for the current facility.”

It’s also “critical” for the club to start the project in September, Finn said in the letter, because the golf course’s designer and construction firm are both available at that time (and then not until 2027-2028) and also because such a start date would mean wrapping up by December as opposed to an “open construction site” for month.

Government

Town Approves Contracts for Fencing Upgrades at Mead, Saxe

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Town officials last week approved a pair of contracts for sports facility fencing at Mead Park and Saxe Middle School. The Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting June 3 approved about $82,000 in contracts for fencing at the Mead Park pickleball courts and large baseball field, as well as a replacement fence at the Saxe baseball field near the YMCA and South Avenue. A major part of the projects is upgrading the fence gauge from nine millimeter to six millimeter, according to Superintendent of Parks Ryan Restivo. 

“This change provides a thicker, more durable coated material that will enhance longevity and durability of the new fencing installations,” Restivo told the selectmen during their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of the contracts with New Canaan-based Gannon Rustic Fence ($14,680) and P&C Fence of Bridgeport ($67,390). The fencing at the Mead pickleball courts is failing, Restivo said, and two baseball fences—the perimeter at Mead Park’s large field and the backstop and dugout at Saxe—both need replacement.

Around Town

Q&A: The Glass House ‘Summer Party’ Set for June 14

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The Glass House “Summer Party”—called “our town’s best party” by “Who Knew?” columnist Laura Ault—is scheduled for Saturday, June 14 (tickets and info here). We put some questions to the organization’s communications director, Christa Carr, about the party itself and its importance to The Glass House. Here’s our exchange. ***

New Canaanite: Talk to us about how your single annual fundraiser, the Summer Party, showcases the campus and its structures. 

Christa Carr: The Summer Party honoring legendary designer Gaetano Pesce is generously sponsored by Max Mara, with additional support from Design Within Reach and Land Rover Darien. This is truly a unique opportunity to experience The Glass House in a way that no standard tour can offer.

Annamaria Ceci

‘Good Work Can Be Overlooked’: Letters of Appreciation for NCPD

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The following letters of support for New Canaan Police officers were made public by Chief John DiFederico at the May 18 Police Commission meeting, held in Town Hall. ***

Officer Kelly Coughlin

Dear Chief DiFederico,

I am writing to extend my sincere gratitude to you and the New Canaan Police Department for the outstanding support provided during our recent missing person search on April 19, 2025. The deployment of your Drone Team with Officer Kelly Coughlin was instrumental in our search efforts. Her professionalism and expertise allowed us to locate the missing party in good health. The level of knowledge and commitment demonstrated by Officer Coughlin reflects positively on your agency.

Daniel Yoo

‘It’s Been a Lot of Fun’: NCHS Senior Internship Program in Full Swing

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New Canaan High School senior Matthew Angilletta felt nervous coming into his internship with Trillium Architects—a Ridgefield-based boutique firm specializing in “Passive House”, “Net Zero,” and off-the-grid design of new homes, additions and renovations. Part of the popular NCHS Senior Internship Program or “SIP,” Angilletta is planning to study mechanical engineering at Northeastern University in the fall, with his first semester abroad in Dublin. 

“It’s my first time in a work environment, but I’ve found that everybody in the office is super warm and inviting and it’s been very interesting to tag along to job sites and work on models,” he told NewCanaanite.com on a recent afternoon, about two weeks into the internship with Trillium. “It’s been a lot of fun so far.”

Angilletta is one of 362 seniors placed across 230 internship sites under the SIP program this year—that’s 97% of all NCHS seniors, according to the program’s coordinator, Kelly DelMazio. 

Offering real-world work experience, connections and a resume-builder, the program is “off to a strong start” this year, DelMazio said. “After just a couple of weeks, it’s been incredible to see students fully immersed in real-world experiences,” she said in an email. “Whether they’re conducting research, teaching in the classroom, working behind the scenes in production, shadowing a doctor, or exploring their passions in marketing, finance, or design.”

Trillium’s founder and CEO, architect Elizabeth DiSalvo—winner of AIA Connecticut’s prestigious 2025 Women in Architecture Award—has been in business for 20 years, and her company received a citation recently from the state General Assembly for being “a leader in moving the green building industry forward in its commitment to exceeding energy standards, embracing innovative technologies, and raising awareness of how building green can help combat climate change.”

DiSalvo, who has designed smart and sustainable houses in New Canaan, said that her two NCHS senior interns this year—Angilletta and West Point-bound Daniel Yoo— “have a fantastic attitude.”

“They’re really super interested and hard-working and so far they have been going to job sites and attending in-office meetings with clients and they’re also building a model—old-school, physically—which we thought would be fun.”

Yoo, who will study civil engineering at the U.S. Military Academy, said the internship with Trillium has been “more than what I expected.”

“There’s a hands-on element to it which is something that I really gravitate toward,” he said.