Government

Town: Green Grass Expected Late Fall at Irwin House Demo Site

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Town officials on Tuesday approved another $84,000 for the remediation of contaminated soils at the former Irwin House site. The funds—to be paid to the Stamford Wrecking Company following a 3-0 vote by the Board of Selectmen—hopefully will be the final payment in a demolition and abatement project budgeted for about $770,000 all in, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. The overall project is coming in about $29,000 over that spending plan, he told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Asked when the public can expect to see green grass on the site of the former Irwin House, Zagarenski said in October-November — so long as no further contaminants turn up. “I don’t suspect we’re going to find anything, but if we’re trying to find the clean limits and we hit into another area that’s [contaminated]—I don’t see it, I don’t foresee it happening, but there is that [chance],” he said.

News

‘The Worst That We’ve Ever Seen It’: July 21 Flash Flooding Damaged Waveny House Basement and Three Other Town Buildings

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The Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. Four town-owned buildings sustained flood damage during the July 21 storm that dropped roughly four-and-a-half inches of rain in approximately 35 minutes on New Canaan, with Waveny House suffering what one town official called the worst basement flooding ever recorded there. “This is the worst that we’ve ever seen it where it flooded the whole basement,” Buildings Superintendent Bill Oestmann told the Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting Aug. 4 at Town Hall. “We got it all cleaned up and dry.”

New Canaan train station

Bus Crashes into Platform Canopy at Train Station, Causing Nearly $20,000 in Damage

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The Summer Internship Program is sponsored by the New Canaan Racquet Club. New Canaan is pursuing an insurance claim after a Metro-North Railroad bus crashed into the canopy at the historic New Canaan Train Station last month, causing an estimated $20,000 in damage, officials say. During an update at the Aug. 4 Board of Selectmen meeting, Buildings Superintendent Bill Oestmann said the crash occurred July 25, a Saturday. “This time it really got hit,” Oestmann told the selectmen, noting that while buses have previously scraped mirrors against the canopy, this incident caused substantially more damage.

South Avenue

Town Aims to Complete Most South Avenue Paving Before School Starts

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The Summer Internship Program is sponsored by the New Canaan Racquet Club. New Canaan officials said last week that they are optimistic that the majority of paving on South Avenue can be completed before students return to school, though the timeline depends on the successful testing of the newly installed Aquarion water main. During a Department of Public Works update at the Aug. 4 Board of Selectmen meeting, Public Works Director Tiger Mann said Aquarion has finished installing the new water pipe, which is now being filled, chlorinated and tested. If the line passes testing, the town plans to move quickly into the paving phase.

News

Town: People Are Illegally Dumping Garbage at Playhouse Lot Compactor

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The Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. People who are not authorized to use the town’s newly relocated garbage compactor in the Playhouse Lot are dumping their trash there anyway, Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting last Tuesday at Town Hall. The compactor, which is intended for use by downtown merchants and businesses, was recently relocated to a newly constructed enclosure cut into the hillside below the Park Street Lot as part of a broader overhaul of the Playhouse Lot. Mann said the issue has come to the town’s attention and that steps are being taken to address it. “We are having some people that are not supposed to be using the compactor using the compactor,” Mann said.