Great Blue

First Selectman Moves To Conduct Town-Wide Survey

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New Canaan’s highest elected official said the town will meet with a Glastonbury-based firm Wednesday to discuss a widely anticipated survey that establishes taxpayer priorities. 

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said Tuesday during a regular Board of Selectmen meeting that Great Blue is expected to conduct the survey. The town has $20,000 for the project, he said. “Depending on how the meeting goes, we will bring back an agreement in two weeks,” he said. During a multi-board workshop held in November, prior to the last budget cycle, officials from elected and appointed bodies including the Boards of Selectmen, Education and Finance, as well as the Town Council, decided to conduct a survey of residents to better understand their spending priorities. Saying they faced a lack of funds, the Board of Finance decided in January to postpone the funding of the survey until the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.

Ellen Zumbach

Have You ‘Herd’? Local Group Eyes Bringing Goats to Irwin Park To Clear Invasives

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A local nonprofit group is looking to bring goats to a popular park in order to clear an invasive species without using chemicals. The New Canaan Garden Club has proposed a monthslong project inside Irwin Park, according to information disclosed Tuesday during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen. Asked about the project, Garden Club President Ellen Zumbach said Irwin has “a significant invasive problem” with plants, “particularly with Japanese Knotweed, where it’s encroaching on the Flexi pave path,” Zumbach said. “It’s called the bully of invasives—it really spreads a lot.”

According to Zumbach, the goats would be confined to an area near the gazebo and would be corralled in some fashion. “They’re very sociable and friendly animals,” she said.

News

Newly Formed ‘Blight Review Board’ Elects Officials, Define Priorities

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A newly created committee designed to help residents who may be struggling to maintain their properties met met for the first time last week to elect officers and discuss its work. The Blight Review Board will help homeowners with problems such as overgrown yards, unraked leaves or deteriorating houses so they can correct those conditions rather than get punished for them, according to Chief Building Official Brian Platz, who had advocated for creation of the appointed body. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan presided over the meeting, held Thursday at Town Hall. During the 45-minute meeting, Brock Saxe was unanimously elected chairman and Paul Tully secretary. Saxe is a commerical real estate professional with Halstead and Tombrock Corporation, while Tully is a real estate and construction professional.

Cat That Wandered into Local Home To Be Put Up for Adoption

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A cat that wandered into a New Canaan home last week is expected to go up for adoption soon, officials said. The black cat on Friday entered a Richards Lane home wearing no ID tags and local police transported the animal to the town’s shelter at the dump, according to Officer Allyson Halm, head of the New Canaan Police Department Animal Control section. Animal Control held the animal over the long weekend “hoping someone would realize they lost their cat,” Halm said. It wasn’t clear whether the cat was a stray, or had been dumped or lost. According to Halm, the cat is a male, appears to be a purebred and “has features similar to those of a Bombay cat.” His age is currently unknown.

Lauren Patterson

New Canaan Community Foundation Awards $586,000 in Grants [CORRECTED]

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A New Canaan organization on Wednesday distributed some $586,000 in grants to 78 local and area nonprofits. Recipients of the New Canaan Community Foundation grants ranged from organizations focused on the arts, culture and community resources, to health, human services, seniors, special needs, and youth organizations. The Community Foundation or ‘NCCF’ “works to mobilize people around issues that they care about,” President and CEO Lauren Patterson told NewCanaanite.com from a bustling auditorium at Norwalk Community College, where NCCF held its Grant Awards Ceremony. “In the fall and winter we focus on raising money, and in the spring our volunteers go out to vet the organizations and award the dollars,” Patterson said. This year, the 1977-established NCCF received a record-breaking 96 applications from nonprofit organizations for grants, which were considered by the foundation through a holistic review process, she said.