News

New Construction Planned for Wahackme Road

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The New Canaan Building Department last month received an application for a 7,700-square-foot house on Wahackme Road. The six-bedroom home planned for 335 Wahackme Road will include six bathrooms, one half-bath, three fireplaces, a finished basement and attic and three-bay garage, according to a building permit application received May 6. It will cost about $2 million to build, the application said. The contractor on the job is Lecher Development LLC of Bridgeport, the architect New Canaan-based Stephen Lecher Associates LLC, it said. The two-acre lot currently includes a 1910-built, 700-square-foot cottage with two bedrooms, tax records show.

Around Town

Man Steers Tesla Through Fence and into Steve Benko Pool at Waveny; No Injuries [UPDATED]

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Update 5:15 p.m.

The man who drove a Tesla into the Steve Benko Pool at Waveny on Tuesday morning told officials that he’d been trying to park car at the time, according to police. However, the vehicle “ accelerated through the pool perimeter fence and into the pool’ shortly after 10:30 a.m., according to a press release issued by the New Canaan Police Department. “The pool was closed at the time, there was no one in the pool and there were no injuries as a result of this incident,” it said. “Multiple lifeguards and first arriving officers entered the pool to assist the male driver out of the vehicle. He was the sole occupant of the vehicle.

Amy Murphy Carroll

‘If We Lose This Pool, We Will Never Get It Back’: Selectmen Weigh in on New Canaan Y’s Valles Pool

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New Canaan’s top elected officials are weighing in on a widely discussed community issue involving a venerable local nonprofit organization. The CEO of the New Canaan YMCA has said that the South Avenue facility’s 46-year-old Valles Pool must close by the end of this year due to required repairs. It faces one to two years of construction, she said, and the Y’s Board of Directors has established a committee to examine the problem and weigh the cost-benefit of restoring the pool versus reimagining the space to serve swimming as well as non-swimming needs. On Tuesday, Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll called for New Canaanites to “pay attention” to a “potential major change in the Y.”

“Their board has been reviewing their facilities and what to do, and there has been some discussion about taking the main diving pool and swim pool, the Valles Pool, offline permanently, potentially with perhaps needs for more dry land,” Murphy Carroll said during the Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. She continued: “It’s all proposal stage.

Animal 411

New Canaan Dog Bites Local Woman

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A local dog is undergoing a 10-day quarantine after biting its owner’s girlfriend during a walk in New Canaan, police records show. The dog—a brindle male Dutch shepherd type canine—bit the woman after becoming “reactive against another dog” during a walk on June 5 (a Friday), according to a case report filed by Officer Sean Godejohn, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section. Godejohn traveled to the New Canaan Fire Department to respond to the dog bite report. There, the victim already was in an ambulance being treated for the bite while “a bystander was holding the dog on leash” for her, he said in the case report, obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request. “This officer took the dog immediately from the bystander once this officer established that she was not the dog owner,” the report said.

Around Town

‘A Shining Light Where Every Person Is Seen’: New Inclusive Playground Opens at Waveny

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More than 50 New Canaan parents, kids, municipal government officials and parks and public works employees on Friday attended the formal opening of the new Waveny Playground. Gathered outside the roomy, inclusive play space near the Orchard Field on a clear, warm morning, the crowd heard from Parks & Recreation Director John Howe, Superintendent of Parks Ryan Restivo and First Selectman Dionna Carlson—a trio that cut a ceremonial ribbon before throngs of little kids funneled onto the playground’s Poured-In-Place rubber surface to climb, swing, slide and otherwise enjoy brand-new play structures. “As we celebrate the opening of this wonderful new playground, before we officially dedicate this space, I would like to thank everyone who played a role in bringing this project to fruition,” Howe said from a podium placed on the playground’s “donor walk” as passersby joined the large crowd. 

He continued: “It took the efforts of many people over many years to turn an idea into what we see before us today. While there are many individuals deserving of recognition, I would like to take a moment to recognize someone whose vision, dedication, perseverance helped make this project a reality: our Superintendent of Parks, Ryan Restivo. This journey began nearly five years ago when Ryan— then a young member of our staff, attended one of the very first meetings to discuss the possibility of building a playground here at Waveny Park.