Homeowner Seeks After-the-Fact Permission for Lighted Batting Cage

The owners of a Smith Ridge Road home are seeking retroactive permission from a town-appointed body for a lighted batting cage on their 2.24-acre property. The 14-by-70-foot cage, which is already in place, is covered in black netting and anchored by 12-foot-high steel posts, according to an application on file with Planning & Zoning. “The Applicant constructed a batting cage in accordance with all applicable regulations but is seeking the special permit for said recreation facility due to the addition of lighting,” said the application, filed on behalf of John and Charlene Serra-Marciano, owners of 884 Smith Ridge Road. “The Applicant was unaware of the need to obtain the Special Permit for the lighting element and desires to be in full compliance with the New Canaan Zoning Code,” it said. The cage itself is more than 40 feet from the property line, the application said, and its lights “do not create either a hazard or a nuisance for adjacent properties of which there is essentially only one in close proximity which is to the south.”

The P&Z file contained no letters of objection as of Oct.

Town Approves Waveny Ice Rink for Winter Season, Postpones Food Truck Decision

Town officials this week approved installation of the temporary ice rink at Waveny for the upcoming season while putting off a decision with respect to allowing food trucks there. 

Located on the lot serving the Orchard Field with its two softball diamonds, the open-air rink launched two years ago. The Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting on Tuesday took up a request to green-light the 2024-25 season as well as a separate request to allow food trucks there to serve skaters and their families. Saying more information is needed regarding the trucks’ hours of operation in the public park, the selectmen postponed a decision on them. “We’re approving food trucks a lot these days,” Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “And they [food trucks] can be really additive.

Town OK’s Sale of T-Shirts at FCIAC X-Country Championships in Waveny

Town officials on Tuesday approved the sale at Waveny this week of commemorative T-shirts benefiting the county’s high school athletics organization. The Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting voted 3-0 in favor of allowing the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference or ‘FCIAC’ to sell the T-shirts at its cross-country finals, to be held Wednesday. “The FCIAC likes to sell commemorative T-shirts for this event,” Parks and Recreation Director John Howe told members of the Board at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of allowing the sales. Carlson noted that New Canaan likely is one of the few communities that doesn’t allow that type of commerce in its parks by right. She asked whether money earned through T-shirt sales goes back to the FCIAC.

Town Denies Disability Pension for Imprisoned Former Police Officer

Town officials on Tuesday denied a disability pension to a former New Canaan Police officer dismissed two years ago following his arrest on animal cruelty and other charges. The municipal Pension Committee voted unanimously to deny former K-9 Officer David Rivera’s application during its regular meeting, held Oct. 8 at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

First Selectman Dionna Carlson said the denial is based on Rivera “using his New Canaan police badge to illegally purchase explosives, which resulted in his conviction of several felonies, burglary in the third degree, malicious wounding and killing of animals in the first degree, possession of explosives and illegal purchase and receipt of a long gun, along with two misdemeanors.”

She continued: “Mr. Rivera committed acts of dishonesty toward the town while employed by the town, resulting in forfeiture of pension benefits under section 16.5 of the funded retirement plan of the town of New Canaan, providing that a participant who commits any act of fraud or act of dishonesty toward the town while employed by the town may forfeit his pension benefits.”

Carlson and Committee members—town CFO Anne Kelly-Lenz, Police K9 Officer Sebastian Obando, Board of Finance member Bob Hamill and Fire Lt. Michael Jackson—voted in favor of the denial. Rivera pleaded guilty in April to gun and explosives charges. He also was charged with cruelty to animals—and, specifically, multiple counts for violating a law against intentionally maiming, mutilating, torturing, wounding or killing an animal.