Around Town

Coffee’s on for Thursday

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Join fellow residents, business owners and NewCanaanite.com editor Michael Dinan for the monthly Community Coffee, to be held 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 5 in the Curtis Art Gallery on the main floor of New Canaan Library. (Please use the original Main Street-facing entrance.)

The free, public coffee is a group conversation about what’s happening around town, moderated by Dinan. It’s presented in partnership with the library, and we serve Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee (thank you, Doug). Topics come from attendees.

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One Injured in Trash Container Fire Downtown

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Firefighters on Tuesday afternoon put out a blaze at a downtown business that injured one person, officials said. At about 1:07 p.m., members of the New Canaan Fire Department responded to the reported structure fire with possible entrapment at 26 Burtis Ave., according to a press release issued by Fire Marshal Fred Baker. There, arriving units found a small fire in a trash container outside the building that had been partially extinguished by the New Canaan Police Department, Baker said. The cause of the fire appears to have been accidental, he said. “Firefighters entered the structure and found one person that had been injured and brought him outside where he was treated by New Canaan Volunteer Ambulance members,” Baker said in the release.

News

Forest Street Pair Arrested for Assault, Disorderly Conduct

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Police after midnight Tuesday arrested two residents of a Forest Street apartment following a domestic dispute between them. At about 11:50 p.m. on Sept. 2, officers responded to a report of the dispute that involved a 36-year-old man and 25-year-old woman, according to police. Following an investigation, each was charged with third-degree assault and disorderly conduct. 

It isn’t clear what the dispute involved, how it turned physical, whether, what the relationship is between the pair or what is the extent of their injuries. Police declined to provide details, saying the incident was a domestic matter.

Board of Selectmen

Town Approves $13,000 Mosquito Larvicide Contract

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The Board of Selectmen at a recent meeting approved a $13,280 contract with a Branford-based ecological management firm to put mosquito larvicide in New Canaan’s storm drains. Representatives from All Habitat Services LLC come to town four times per year to dump a product called Vectolex into some 2,656 catch basins, Parks Superintendent John Howe told the Board. 

Doing so is “the best thing we can do for West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis,” Howe said at the Aug. 20 meeting, held in Town Hall. Vectolex “reproduces itself, so it gives us longer control,” Howe said. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams voted 3-0 in favor of the contract.

Government

P&Z Votes for $150 Annual Permit Fee for ’Airbnb’ and Other Short-Term Rental Owners 

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The Planning & Zoning Commission last week approved a measure whereby New Canaan property owners seeking to rent out their homes or rooms within them on a short-term basis, such as through the popular online service Airbnb, would need to pay an annual fee to the town. The $150 ‘Short Term Rental Permit Fee’ still requires approval by the Board of Selectmen, according to Town Planner Lynn Brooks Avni. Though not a revenue-generator, the fee would cover administrative costs such as application processing and filing, Brooks Avni told members of P&Z at their regular meeting, held Aug. 27 at Town Hall. Commissioner Bill Redman said, “It’s not a money maker but it puts them on notice they need to have the proper paperwork.