Aaron Lefland

New Canaan Land Trust Challenges Plan To Alter Grupes Dam, Bank

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Saying the changes will harm the environment, officials with a prominent New Canaan nonprofit organization are voicing concerns about a proposal to raise the height of a dam in the Silvermine River and construct berms and walls along its bank. The First Taxing District of Norwalk’s plans for the Grupes Reservoir Dam off of upper Valley Road will result in the permanent clearing of more than 400 native trees and shrubs that comprise important riverbank habitat, according to the New Canaan Land Trust. 

The proposed barrier of berms and walls also will disconnect wetlands and streams from the reservoir at the Land Trust’s abutting 10.3-acre Browne Sanctuary, Land Trust Executive Director Aaron Lefland said. The Land Trust is joining the Norwalk River Watershed Association in petitioning the application and urging the public to participate in a Sept. 29 hearing. “We feel pretty strongly that the application the Norwalk Taxing District submitted to DEEP [state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection] is incomplete and does not address any impacts of the project,” Lefland told NewCanaanite.com. 

“Of the 600-page application, two [pages] talk about impacts on vegetation and all they talk about is vegetation downstream of the dam, whereas all we are concerned about is upstream,” he said.

Business

‘It’s a Great Community’: Adirondack Store Opens on Elm Street

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One of New Canaan’s longstanding and beloved retail shops has reopened in the heart of the downtown. 

The Adirondack Store had closed its New Canaan location after a successful 15-year run, and following a Grand Opening weekend is now open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday in a newly renovated space. “We are excited to be back,” Rahul Saito told NewCanaanite.com Monday morning from the street-level of the shop at 39 Elm St. “People have been just wonderful,” he said. “The community has embraced us and missed us, actually, which has been great to hear.”

First opened in Lake Placid, N.Y. in 1955, the Adirondack Store had a New Canaan location from 1995 to 2009, when it closed due to differences with its landlord at the time, officials have said. The new store occupies the two-level former Family Britches space (that shop is now on Main Street) and includes a café in addition to the Adirondack Store’s signature range of gifts, glassware, pillows and home decor items.

Asked what brought him and Stephen Shin back, Saito said, “I think that a lot of the people who have homes in the surrounding area have second or third homes up in Lake Placid, so the connection didn’t really leave at all, ever.

2020-21 Academic Year: District’s Phased Plan Calls For All Students To Be in Public Schools in Early-October

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If health data supports it, New Canaan Public Schools will aim to allow students to attend all classes in-person in early October, district officials said Monday. School will look different at that time, officials said during a regular meeting of the Board of Education, held via videoconference. For example, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said, those in school will be wearing masks and observing physical distancing, hallways will be marked one-way, classrooms will be assigned designated bathrooms, visitors will be prohibited and all assemblies will be held virtually. Though Fairfield County has what health officials are calling “low community spread” of COVID-19 virus—meaning the state is allowing local districts to fully reopen with in-person learning—the first several weeks of the upcoming academic year will be spent re-acclimating students and parents, as well as teachers and faculty, to the changed environment, officials said. Available here in a continuously updated operations guide, the four-phase plan is geared toward the school community’s “on-boarding and reengagement,” Luizzi said.

Business

Local Businesses and COVID-19: New Canaan Pizza & Taqueria

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For today’s Q&A with a local business owner navigating the COVID-19 public health emergency, we talk to Jose Guttierez of New Canaan Pizza & Taqueria. 

After purchasing the East Avenue mainstay three years ago, Guttierez oversaw an extensive interior renovation and then reopened in 2018 with the addition of authentic Mexican cuisine to New Canaan Pizza’s classic Greek-style pizza menu. The restaurant is open 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. every day, offering pickup and delivery. 

Here’s our interview. New Canaanite: How are you doing? Jose Gutierrez: We are surviving in this pandemic situation. There are good signs of surviving. 

What has the response been like from the community?

COVID-19 New Canaan

Local Businesses and COVID-19: New Canaan Toy Store

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For today’s Q&A with a local business owner navigating the COVID-19 public health emergency and related restrictions, we hear from Nathan Shapiro of the New Canaan Toy Store. Here’s our exchange. New Canaanite: What are New Canaan Toy Store’s hours of operation and services you are offering at this point in terms of ordering/delivery? Nathan Shapiro: We are open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. We are offering curbside service and free same day home delivery. My sister Annie, our store manager, and I are staffing the store ourselves. We are helping customers over the phone during store hours, texting photos and even FaceTiming to get as close to an in-store experience as possible.