Government

Selectmen Approve Contracts for Newly Renovated Police Station, on Track for June

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The Board of Selectmen this month approved a series of contracts for the newly renovated Police Department building on South Avenue, which officials say is on track for an early-June move-in. One $35,000 contract with a Shelton-based company, CDW-G, is for “monitors, smart TVs, brackets, cables, cameras” and other related equipment for the Police Department, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the New Canaan Department of Public Works. “We’re not hiring a vendor, we’re just going to purchase everything directly so we don’t have to pay any additional markups on it,” Zagarenski told the selectmen at their April 15 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

He continued: “So this includes all the wall-mounted monitors, TVs—there are about 26 in total—[it] covers training rooms, meeting rooms, conference rooms, dispatch, roll call, break rooms, detective bureaus offices, and a couple other miscellaneous ones.”

Funds for the hardware are available in the PD project budget, he said. First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted in favor of the contract. The selectmen also approved two approximately $24,000 contracts—one for designing and installing irrigation systems for the new plantings outside the police station, and another to uninstall the emergency generator at the temporary police HQ downtown.

Government

Town Approves Contract for Pre-Demolition Services at Irwin House

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Town officials this month approved an approximately $58,000 contract for environmental services required in order to demolish the main and guest houses in Irwin Park. The prospect of demolishing Irwin House—a 1963-built Colonial that served as the temporary home of some municipal departments during the Town Hall renovation and expansion about 10 years ago—emerged publicly during the recently completed budget process. On April 15, the Board of Selectmen approved a contract with New Haven-based Fuss & O’Neill to prepare for the project. The environmental services firm “will perform the pre-demolition hazardous material inspections and design services,” according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. “They will inspect the building for asbestos, lead paint, PCBs and mercury, and they create a big document for us to remove them,” he told the selectmen at the regular meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference.

Government

Selectmen Approve Traffic-Calming Work at Conrad and Whiffle Tree

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The Board of Selectmen last week approved an approximately $87,000 contract with a New Canaan-based company to further improve a closely watched and historically problematic intersection in the “South of the Y” neighborhood. The town had several stops and starts since it began focusing on relieving high-volume traffic and speeding at the intersection of Conrad Road and Whiffle Tree Lane, including a proposal to install a “mini-roundabout” and a short-lived experiment involving a barricade that drew criticism from residents. Last year, town officials striped the intersection into a three-way stop, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “That was after multiple discussions with the residents and the Police Commission,” Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen during their April 15 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

He continued: “We turned it into a three-way stop with temporary striping to show everyone the delineation of where these—I’ll call it a ‘bumpout’—but it’s basically bringing the intersection in, honing it down to make it a true three-way intersection and not allow you to cut the corners on the tangents. So in order to do so, we’ve got to install some drainage on each corner of each bumpout.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of the $86,767.50 contract with Peter Lanni Inc. to complete the work.

Government

Town Ups Contract with Provider After Rise in Bench Donations

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Town officials say that New Canaan is seeing an unusually high number of requests from residents who purchase honorific or memorial benches dedicated to loved ones. Typically, the Department of Public Works receives donations from locals who purchase benches and then the town itself assembles and places them in a location that makes sense—for example, in a park. This year, “we’ve actually had more than we normally have,” according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The benches in public places—which are consistent throughout New Canaan, following a Parks & Recreation Commission initiative in 2018—cost about $1,700 each and are purchased through a Gaithersburg, Md.-based company called Country Casual Teak, Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their April 15 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Normally, the town’s highest elected official, First Selectman Dionna Carlson, approves the purchases herself because the total comes to less than $10,000.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Pedestrian Railing Coming to Front of Playhouse To Help with Tripping Issue

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Because visitors to The Playhouse have had problems tripping off of the small concrete platform right out front, the town is planning to install a railing at the platform’s edge. The hope is that the railing will serve as a visual demarcation between the concrete and brick sidewalk below, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The railing itself also will be required by code with a new pedestrian ramp that’s going in on the right-hand side of the building, Mann said. “We’re still having issues with some residents not navigating from the platform down to the brick sidewalk,” Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held Tuesday at Town Hall and via videoconference. “They’re not able to understand from the concrete to the brick.