News

Letter: Selling Town-Owned Land at Lapham and Talmadge Hill Roads a ‘Bad and Short-Sighted’ Idea

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The proposal to sell the 6.2 acre undeveloped parcel of Waveny Park land on the south side of the Merritt Parkway adjacent to the Talmadge Hill Station is a very bad and short-sighted solution to the town’s fiscal condition. The recommendation should go no further than the Conservation Commission and the Parks & Recreation Commission, and they most assuredly will vote “no.”

This “unused” property is wooded open space that provides wildlife habit; serves as a sink for carbon dioxide and other exhaust pollutants from the Merritt Parkway; is a groundwater recharge area; and helps provide the green buffer that makes Waveny Park feel so rural. New Canaan has less than the state recommended area preserved as public open space. Selling six acres for development is simply not justified from an environmental standpoint. If the parcel is legally part of Waveny Park, then under state law, a like kind amount of land must be purchased to compensate for the taking of park land.

News

Letter: Preserve the Historic ‘Brick Barn’ in Mead Park

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As the Town Council ponders the future of the historic buildings owned by the Town, the undersigned is writing on behalf of the New Canaan Preservation Alliance (NCPA) about the Brick Barn in Mead Park. Built in 1901 by the Standard Oil Company (now ExxonMobil) as a stable for horses to pull tank wagons of kerosene to customers in New Canaan, the historic building has a long history of use by New Canaan organizations, and is listed on the Connecticut Register of Historic Places. It was one of the first fuel “service stations”, and is one of the last remaining of its genre. The various civic groups that used the building over the past 117 years include a WWII sewing group for the troops; several veterans groups; the Town Band; as a changing room for school football teams; and most recently as the Town wood working shop and storage for Parks & Recreation. Over the past 20 years, the building has been unoccupied and has fallen in disrepair, as the Town ceased maintaining the building.