Government

New Canaan ‘Community Garden’ Proposed for Kiwanis Park

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Led by residents who live in the neighborhood, a group of locals is seeking permission to create a “community garden” for New Canaan in a largely disused area of Kiwanis Park. An expanse of grass in the northeastern part of the Old Norwalk Road park could lend itself to an approximately 6,000-square-foot garden that town residents could use to grow mostly vegetables as well as fruit and flowers, New Canaan’s Lisa Creighton told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission at their Nov. 13 meeting. “The garden itself will increase the appeal and usage of Kiwanis Park,” Creighton said at the appointed body’s regular meeting, held at Lapham Community Center and via videoconference. During a presentation to the Commission, Creighton listed some of the expected benefits of the garden, including community beautification, social connection, educational opportunities, food security and sustainability. 

Creighton, who’d been involved with community gardens in Washington, D.C. in the past said that in her experience such gardens “build social cohesion,” bringing together people who normally wouldn’t interact. 

She added that a community garden such as what’s envisioned for Kiwanis lends itself to wide “peer-to-peer education” where adults learn from each other “about the stewardship of land, planting and seedlings.”

Though the organic plants grown in a community garden are designed to serve those who have secured plots, there often is excess, Creighton said.

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New Construction Planned for Greenley Road

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The New Canaan Building Department on Oct. 28 received an application for a new 9,967-square-foot home on Greenley Road. The six bedroom home at 255 Greenley Road will include seven full bathrooms, one half-bath, sauna, rec room, theater and wine room and a 3-bay garage, according to a building permit application. It will cost about $1,680,000 to build, the application said. The contractor on the job is Westport-based Barrington Building Company LLC, the architect RO & CO Architecture LLC of Stamford. 

The vacant 2.17-acre lot sold for $1,437,500 in August, property tax records show.

Government

Court Filing: Zoning Board Erred in Upholding Neighbors’ Appeal of Driveway Gate Permit

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The owners of a Pastures Lane home last week filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn a recent decision regarding the issuance of a permit for a driveway gate. The town in July issued a permit for the owner of 78 Pastures Lane to install an automated driveway gate. Later that month, neighbors filed an appeal with the town regarding the permit itself. In their appeal, they didn’t voice concerns over the driveway gate, pointing instead to what they described as an overly tall and insufficiently screened deer fence on the same property. 

Running south off of Silvermine Road between Canoe Hill and Valley Roads, Pastures Lane is a cul-de-sac of seven homes and one undeveloped lot. The gate in question is located on the cul-de-sac.

News

New Canaan Woman, 58, Charged in Domestic Dispute

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New Canaan Police on Oct. 29 arrested a local woman, 58, following a domestic dispute. At about 12:47 p.m. that day (a Tuesday), officers were dispatched to an Orchard Drive home on a reported dispute between the victim and arrested woman, according to police. Through an investigation, police established probable cause to bring the misdemeanor charge, officials said. 

Under state law, people are guilty of disorderly conduct if they “with intent to cause inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk … [e]ngages in … threatening behavior; or … annoys or interferes with another person,” among other reasons. Police withheld details, saying this case was a domestic matter.

Animal 411

New Canaan Animal Control Frees Hawk Snagged in Chicken Coop [PHOTOS]

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Police on Wednesday night freed a red-tailed hawk that had become stuck in a southeastern New Canaan chicken coop. Authorities were notified of the problem on Buttery Road at about 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 20, according to Officer Sean Godejohn, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section. “The hawk presumably flew into the coop to get a chicken and got stuck,” Godejohn said. The bird was not injured, he said.