Expanded Bacteria-Testing of New Canaan’s Rivers Proposed

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Test results show that New Canaan’s waterways rank among the cleanest in the region, officials say. At seven E. coli data-testing sites located on New Canaan’s stretches of the Noroton and Rippowam Rivers—sites each tested at least 10 times from May to September last summer—officials found that just one location had a bacteria level that failed state criteria. And that one location—along Ponus Ridge, just below Collins Pond—was only “marginally failing” and within the margin of error, according to marine ecologist Dr. Sarah Crosby, director of Harbor Watch. “I am not overly concerned about there being an acute problem,” Crosby told members of the Conservation Commission during their regular meeting, held April 11 at Town Hall. Asked why New Canaan appears to have cleaner waterways than other towns in Fairfield County, Crosby said “a lot of it has to do with keeping infrastructure up-to-date.”

“A lot has to do with public understanding of things like septic maintenance, and the town regulations around septic systems can have a big impact, and then land use is a big part of it as well,” she said.

Chris Hering

Town Upholds New Canaan Woman’s $25 Parking Ticket

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The Parking Commission at its most recent meeting voted 4-1 to uphold a $25 ticket for a New Canaan woman who had overstayed in a Main Street space for about a half-hour. 

Heidi McEvoy told members of the Commission during an appeal hearing that she’s a longtime volunteer at New Canaan Library and that on the Monday morning in question, she headed in to assist with a twice-yearly children’s book sale and “the library lot was full.”

“In fact, it was so full that there were cars parked in areas marked ‘no parking’—and that’s quite a common occurrence,” McEvoy said during her appeal hearing, held March 14 at Town Hall. 

“A lot of people use the library lot to stay and do their library shopping in town and they never move. And the library does not do much about enforcing that. But in any event, when I first arrived, there were no spaces in the library parking lot, so I went around the lot three or four times and still couldn’t find one, and parked on Main Street and then later on after I had finished my stint at the library I came out and saw the parking meter lady putting a ticket on my car and I said, ‘But I am here.’ She said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t do anything about it— I have already written the ticket.’ And my defense is that I have put in a lot of time in at New Canaan Library and made lot of money for the library at the book sales and if not there isn’t parking in the library parking lot, which I can’t control and they don’t enforce it, I don’t think the library volunteers should be charged for parking tickets. Now if you look at my record, I think I have had one parking ticket in all of my 50 years that I have lived in New Canaan. And I am quite responsible.

Amy Murphy Carroll

First Selectman: Work To ‘Begin Shortly’ on Former Outback Teen Center

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Work soon will start on long-vacant public building located behind Town Hall that is to be be made ready for a paying tenant, New Canaan’s highest elected official said last week. The former Outback Teen Center “will begin shortly so that the building will be available for July 1,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said during the April 9 Board of Finance meeting. The main floor of the building is to be rented to a local dance studio, while the New Canaan Department of Human Services is to move into the ground floor of the building. 

The town has been approved for a state Capital Improvement Program grant covering more than $400,000 for the project, officials said. Finance board member Amy Murphy Carroll noted that although the town had approved funds for engineering and other studies needed ahead of a renovation of the Outback, funding the physical work was to wait until New Canaan knew better just what it would do with Vine Cottage (where Human Services currently is located). Yet given the news about the state grant, Murphy Carroll said, “it’s different now.”

Building officials in the past had pegged the cost of renovating the Outback at about $300,000.

Christopher Kaiser

Officials: Town Website on Track for May Relaunch

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Town officials said this week that the re-launched municipal website is on track to go live in May. Designed to be more useful and interactive than what New Canaan currently has, the new site will live at the same Web address, newcanaan.info, and its features will include increased online bill pay functionality, a more robust “news” section, sign-ups for various kinds of alerts and tie-ins with town-operated social media accounts. Those in municipal government helping to design and train on the site are “engaged” and “excited,” New Canaan’s director of information technology, Chris Kaiser, said during Wednesday’s meeting of the Technology Advisory Committee. 

Discussions about the look and navigation of the site, as well as its color palette and featured photos are ongoing, Kaiser said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. And while all the data that lives on the town site’s thousands of Web pages is “migrated” over to the new one, “we are in a stopgap where anything going to the old newcanaan.info site is held” and will be part of the re-launch. Appointed in February 2018, the five-member Committee—Chairman Randy Dalia, Secretary Jeff Platt, Michael Abbott, Paul Pureka and Annamari Mikkola—has been studying the use of technology generally by the town government, with an eye on making it more efficient, cost-effective and convenient for residents.

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Local Restaurant To Undergo Re-Inspection After Citation for ‘Toxic Items’ Placement 

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A restaurant on Main Street in New Canaan is to undergo re-inspection by local health officials who this week found an insecticide and chemical compound improperly stored in its kitchen. During an unannounced April 9 inspection at the Indian restaurant, a sanitarian in the New Canaan Health Department discovered a “risk factor” violation in the category of “toxic items properly stored, labeled & used,” according to the inspector’s report. Specifically, the inspector found Raid and isopropyl alcohol stored on shelf above a dishwashing area and near food container storage at Chef Prasad restaurant, according to the sanitarian’s report. Inspectors use a state Department of Public Health standard, citing eateries for violations that range in seriousness and corresponding weight from one to four points. A “failed” inspection is triggered either by one or more four-point or “risk factor” violations, or a total score of less than 80 points.