Selectman Nick Williams on Tuesday chastised New Canaan’s highest elected official following the town’s quiet sign-off last week on a $5,000 contract for a study of how a proposed new police station near Saxe Middle School would affect traffic.
Studying the effect on traffic locating a new police station on a Saxe Middle School baseball field amounts to the town spending $5,000 “for an assessment of something that is not going to take place,” Williams said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.
“It’s $5,000,” he said. “It may not seem like a lot, but it’s $5,000 that’s wasted.”
His comments came as the selectmen took up their regular review of town contracts valued at less than $10,000. One of the contracts, with Norwalk-based Hardesty & Hanover, was for “traffic consulting services potential new site NCPD South Ave.”
Williams noted that municipal officials from both funding bodies during a joint meeting Monday night signaled that they preferred to renovate the existing police station on-site to building anew elsewhere in New Canaan, such as at Saxe.
Public Works Director Tiger Mann in introducing the Hardest & Hanover contract requested through his department said the town asked the consulting firm “to take a look at potential Police Department locations at Saxe and at Waveny” to assess traffic.
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan told Mann that the woods between New Canaan High School and Saxe—one of several potential new police station sites studied by an architect working out of the public eye for several months this year—should not be characterized as “Waveny.”
This exchange followed after Williams asked, for the second time, “When was that contract entered into?”:
Mann: Friday
Williams: Huh?
Mann: Friday.
Williams: Friday?
Mann: Friday.
Williams asked whether the town has paid for the contract. Town officials signed it but Hardesty & Hanover hasn’t invoiced for it, Mann said. Williams asked whether the town could get out of the contract. Mann said a draft traffic study already was turned in Monday by the consultant.
Williams asked, “We signed the contract but we are still negotiating the terms of the contract?”
Mann responded, “No no no. He gave us his initial—he went out and did the work over the weekend.”
The revelation that the town is paying $5,000 for a quick turnaround traffic study comes as municipal officials prepare to settle the question of whether to renovate the New Canaan Police headquarters at 174 South Ave. or rebuild it there or someplace else.
In September, a team assembled by Moynihan unveiled a proposal to build a new police station on the Saxe ball field—an idea that Moynihan first shared during a press briefing in January 2019 (audio here). The idea originated with Stuart Sawabini, former chair of the Police Commission, Moynihan said. In February, Moynihan spoke in favor of building a new police station somewhere else in town.
The idea of building a police station at Saxe drew swift criticism in the form of an online petition that’s garnered 977 signatures, and town officials for months have questioned both the financial and political viability of such a project.
Williams said that one big upside to renovating-in-place is that work could commence in about eight months, with no legal or other fight from neighbors and residents.
This exchange followed:
Williams: I would argue that if we tried to do an alternative site—let’s just take Saxe, because Saxe clearly has been at the top of your agenda—
Moynihan: Not my agenda. I never said that, Nick. Don’t put words I my mouth. I didn’t tell you that—
Williams: You did. You told me two years ago that you thought this was a good idea at Saxe.
Moynihan: I didn’t tell you that.
Williams: You did.
Moynihan: I told Michael Dinan that it was Stuart Sawabini’s idea and I identified Stuart Sawabini at the time, so. Stuart Sawabini, it’s still his favorite location. It’s not my favorite location. I never said it.
Williams: OK. That’s fine. Whatever. I can continue. I have received 500, 600 emails-plus with respect to relocating the Police Department to the Saxe fields. Ripping up the baseball fields and partially the soccer fields. And I can tell you, Kevin, and I’m happy to share these with you, I have not received a single email in favor of doing that. And we have petition out there that has 1,000 signatures against this.
Moynihan: Nick, no one is advocating Saxe at this point. I’m not advocating Saxe.
Instead, Moynihan said during the meeting that he favors building a new police station in the woods that separate NCHS from Saxe—a wooded area of trails connected to Waveny that runs south from the corner of Farm Road and South Avenue (more below).
Moynihan said that the town should consider the payoff of selling the current police building in order to create more “moderate-income housing.”
“We have a lot of pressure to have multi-family housing in town,” he said. “So we’re going to continue to have pressure for multi-family housing, and this gives us an opportunity to have new building somewhere and a net cost lower than what we would end up with with a renovation. So personally I think it’s a mistake. I can’t support it.”
Williams then asked Moynihan, “So will you continue to enter into contracts pursuant to an alternate site, [valued at] under $10,000?”
Moynihan said that he wanted to hire Hardesty & Hanover traffic engineer Michael Gallante to try and “ameliorate” traffic congestion due to three schools located near Farm and South.
“When laymen say there’s a traffic problem on South Avenue, there is a traffic problem: It’s called three schools,” Moynihan said. “And the traffic problem, I am looking to ameliorate. And the reason we had Michael Gallante look at this is because people said, first of all a Police Department there does not add to traffic. That’s clear. We need that professional opinion to understand it doesn’t add to traffic. Is there a way to ameliorate the traffic at the high school and Saxe in the morning?”
Williams asked whether Moynihan was saying that the traffic study just happened to be in the same area as the divisive proposal for the new police station.
“So this is a coincidence?” Williams said. “It just this happens to coincide with a discussions about Saxe as a new location for the Police Department?”
This exchange followed:
Moynihan: The reason for this was the high school location, which is still, is now, is my favorite location.
Williams: So your favorite location has changed from Saxe to Waveny?
Moynihan: Nick, don’t say that again. I never said I was in favor of the Saxe location.
Williams: You stipulated. That’s fine. So but you are now saying—
Moynihan: —The high school is my favorite location among the choices
Williams: By ‘high school’ you mean Waveny Park?
Moynihan: It’s not Waveny Park.
Williams: It is to most people in town.
Moynihan: Where the Board of Education was going to go.
Williams: And it wasn’t built.
Moynihan: For financial reasons, right?
Williams: No, for political reasons.
It’s unclear at what point the woods that run south of the main road through Waveny are thought by some to no longer be part of Waveny.
Williams last month called out Moynihan for his suggestion that the superintendent of schools and head of the New Canaan Athletic Foundation supported the Saxe proposal.
Selectman Kathleen Corbet said she supported the option of renovating-in-place at the current NCPD site. Citing information shared at a joint meeting Monday night of the selectmen, Board of Finance and Town Council, Corbet said she would consider rebuilding there but that the numbers don’t make sense, since it would cost significantly more to knock down the existing station and construct a new building than to renovate it. “The difference is too wide in terms of the cost,” she said.
Corbet also said that New Canaan should pay to relocate police during construction. At the joint meeting Monday, architects said it would cost about $13.1 million to $14.6 million to renovate the existing station while vacating it, while a new training facility and shooting range would cost about $3 million to $3.4 million more. Building a new police station in the woods behind NCHS would cost about $23.6 million, while the Saxe ballfield project has been estimated at $23.5 million, architects said.
The selectmen all agreed that New Canaan should ensure that police have a local training facility, in addition to the upgraded building.
Town officials have discussed the need to renovate the 1927-built Police Department on South Avenue—originally built as the first New Canaan High School—for many years. The cost originally was pegged at $5 million, then $7 million, then $10 million and, more recently, in the $14.7 million to $18 million range.
After Corbet gave her view, Moynihan said that “it’s interesting that the people closest to it—Chief Krolikowski, Paul Foley as commissioner, Stuart Sawabini the prior commissioner for 10 years, and myself—we all believe a new building is necessary and appropriate.”
“And I think it’s a mistake to renovate a building that is 83 years old, 93 years old,” Moynihan said. “The people, as Paul Foley said [Monday] night, the people in Darien regret their renovation in place, it has a lot of risks and additional expenses. It probably won’t come in at the $17 [million] to 18 million mark. It probably will come in at more. And people will not be happy with it, so I have an educated view that when you have something as important as a Police Department, you find a location to build anew.”
During Monday’s joint meeting, members of the Town Council agreed to take an informal vote on the legislative body’s preference regarding a future Police Department project, which then could help inform the Board of Finance as it takes up its own discussion and vote on a recommendation.
So, everything else aside, the town paid $5K for a traffic study evaluating the impact of school traffic… on the weekend?
They probably used data on motor vehicle volumes and speeds that had been captured by police on speed sentries in the past, and then did the work of analyzing it between Friday and Monday.
If a traffic study was done over a weekend, police station aside, hopefully it shows that the traffic signal at Farm Rd/South Ave intersection is in dire need of recalibration. When its on it’s own settings, and not controlled by the crossing guard, you are lucky if even the first two cars make it through (from Farm Rd) before it goes red again. How can we get this fixed????
A study is not a waste of money. We should understand the traffic patterns on South Avenue insofar as they affect school start times and pedestrian safety in front of the YMCA. Do we want busses to exit the Waveny woods directly opposite the Saxe entrance if it decreases morning and afternoon congestion? Maybe. I do not favor building a building in the Waveny woods. But, I would like to know if a single-lane exit results in a significant benefit such as 8:10 start times.
John, I always appreciate your logical and open perspective toward the issues that affect our Town. I agree with you completely on the potential benefits of the study. On school start times alone we are planning on spending approximately $1MM a year and have likely spent over $100K on start time studies and surveys alone, not to mention the referendum. A more equitable result for all children was not considered based in large part to the potential for increased “traffic”. The fact that this was never examined and no attempt was made to even measure its affect for as little as $5k seems like analysis half done.
Well, except that the BOE DID commission TWO traffic studies while studying how best to optimize the traffic situation around Farm/South. In fact, one of the studies led to building an alternate exit route from the high school through Waveny to alleviate traffic at that intersection. Gosh, there goes our BOE and Dr. Luizzi crushing the due diligence thing …….
Are these traffic studies on the Start Times Website? Can these be shared with the public? Would be great to see them. If these specific traffic studies have been widely available to everybody than why doesn’t the town leverage them and save us $5K. I am sure they could use the info. And if you are referring to the BOE TAS studies, there is no traffic analysis included in there presentation packages. So would appreciate it if you could directed us to Start Time related traffic studies.
That being said, why have the RESULTS of the study never been presented as a reason to pursue the current Start Time plan and discount all other solutions. Sorry, but when it comes to the health of our youngest a simple generic reply of “It’s Traffic” should not do. How much more traffic, 10%?, 20%? more? Were any alternatives to alleviate the traffic explored? Will the current proposed scenario increase traffic, if so how much? What would the difference be? Not saying that traffic should be a reason to potentially harm elementary school children, but at least quantify and present what the true cost of options are, if the studies have already been done.
As I said with the Library project and other large issues the town would be very well served with a series of educational forums for the public laying out the options, cost and macro environment (i.e. value for repurposing the existing police station – for example how this impacts affordable and senior housing issues) so people can be better and more holistically informed on the subject. We should also break out must and need to have for the new police station and if any value in a joint police / fire / Ems solution or if they should stand alone.
The woods between the High School and Saxe is very much part of Waveny Park. The plan to build a school administration building in the woods by former First Selectman Dick Bond went to a referendum and was soundly defeated by a 2-1 referendum in which more than 4000 people voted.
As a former member of the Hands off Waveny group that organized the referendum, and the leader of Keep Waveny a Park, the group that stopped Waveny Care from building a retirement village in the park, I can assure you that a decision to build a new police station in the woods will be opposed by a referendum. Skip Hobbs
What is driving the First Selectman’s relentless campaign to tear up a park or playing fields? Why is sale of the existing police building to a developer always offered as a justification? Have there been discussions about such a project with developers? If so, who?
I thought Kevin supported the preservation of Waveny Park – I guess I misunderstood his position on that. Once you destroy that buffer you destroy an important part of the entrance to our town and community running trails. Whether it’s a bus route or a police station, these were not contemplated under the uses of that property. If the police need a new station, why not tear down the old one and build a new one in the same space rather than destroying parks or playing fields and giving developers another opportunity to build an oversized project in that neighborhood.