Town Seeks Credits for EV and CHP Initiatives 

The town is preparing to spend $35,000 with Deloitte Global to prepare documents to receive government credits and incentives related to the municipality’s electric vehicle and combined heat-and-power initiatives. 

The town stands to get back $100,000 to $131,000 for CHP initiatives and $7,500 per EV, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. Deloitte “will prepare and help submit under the Internal Revenue Code, Section 48, for an investment tax credit for the CHP at Lapham [Community Center],” Zagarenski told the Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting Tuesday, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. He continued: “This requires them basically to submit a zero dollar tax return on behalf of the town, and then we get a credit against that for a certain percentage of what we spent on the CHP units. And then there’s a second effort that they will actually submit for commercial clean vehicle credits for our fleet of EVs. And these are just another incentive that’s out there that they’ll help us to obtain.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of the contract.

NCPD

Disorderly Charge for New Canaan Man, 42

Police after midnight Monday charged a 42-year-old New Canaan man with disorderly conduct. At about 12:08 a.m. on Jan. 6, officers responded to a Fawn Lane residence on a reported dispute between the victim and the man, police said. Through an investigation, authorities established probable cause for the misdemeanor charge. Police withheld details, saying it’s a domestic matter.

Town: Aquarion To Shut Down South Avenue in July and August for Water Main Installation

The water company is planning to shut down South Avenue during weekday work hours between Harrison Avenue and Farm Road in July and August as part of a multi-year water main installation that is cutting across New Canaan, officials say. A project that started three years ago, the installation of the 36-inch pipe has already seen road closures and detours in eastern New Canaan, where the main comes in from Wilton and ultimately will feed toward Stamford and Greenwich. Public Works Director Tiger Mann said during Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting that his department is meeting this week with Aquarion to discuss bids for the job. 

Selectman Steve Karl, noting that New Canaan itself is not benefiting from the disruptive project, asked during the regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference: “They’re not planning on doing Farm Road during the school year, right?”

Mann said no, it should wrap up during the summer months. The discussion emerged while the selectmen were approving a separate contract for sidewalk work along South Avenue from Cherry Street to Surrey Road. The selectmen voted 3-0 to approve a pair of contracts—for $18,000 and $20,000—to get surveying and design work to replace pedestrian ramps, where needed, along that route.

Selectmen OK Contract for Asbestos Removal in Waveny House Basement

Town officials on Tuesday approved an approximately $27,000 contract with a Hartford-based company to remove asbestos from water pipes located in the basement of Waveny House. 

Bill Oestmann, buildings superintendent with the Department of Public Works, said the town is approaching the work as “a phased project because of the sensitivity and the age of the building and what we’re handling.”

“We don’t want to open up a big can of worms here,” Oestmann told members of the Board of Selectmen at 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 a $27,300 contract with Haz-Pros Inc. 

Oestmann said the company will “come in and remove the asbestos piping and around the areas where we’re going to make the transition from all the new piping we’re putting in to all the elaborate piping going up to the bathrooms and what have you,” 

Each pipe is about 10 feet long and there are some 200 total feet of piping that require asbestos abatement, he said. “Once we get all that done and the pipes hooked up, the whole system will actually then be replaced and then we can take our time, sit back and say, ‘OK, how do we want to abate the rest of the basement?’ ” he said. “It buys us some time and we get what we need. We have all new water lines now.”

The abatement is one piece of approximately $200,000 in asbestos removal that officials anticipate at the iconic town-owned mansion in Waveny, officials said. 

The selectmen asked for clarification on the total feet of piping now requiring abatement (about 200) and whether the $200,000 budgeted for the overall project includes abatement as well as installation or just abatement (the latter). Asbestos does not have to be removed from pipes if it goes undisturbed in any new work, officials said.

DUI Charge for Woman, 48

Police last week arrested a 48-year-old Stamford woman by warrant and charged her with driving under the influence. The warrant stemmed from a car crash on Nov. 11 (a Monday), according to a police report. The woman turned herself in to police at the department’s temporary Locust Avenue headquarters at about 1:12 p.m. on Jan. 2. 

In addition to the misdemeanor DUI charge, she was cited for failure to drive right and failure to drive in the proper lane.