Eversource Seeking Staging Area for Proposed Natural Gas Project

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Update 7:45 a.m. Friday

First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said Friday that one proposed “lay-down area” for Eversource (formerly ‘Yankee Gas’)—at Waveny Park, near the water towers—has been rejected by the utility because the space is not secure.

Several sites for the staging area have been discussed, and officials now are exploring whether the most viable option may be out of town, Mallozzi said.

“If we cannot come to an agreement on a good, safe location that is near their potential project, I’ve asked them to cost out-of-town,” he said.

If a spot on public park grounds emerged as a candidate for the staging area, Mallozzi said, the Park & Recreation Commission would need to vet and vote formally on it.

No timetable for the project has been said, he said.

Original Article

Though formal plans for bringing natural gas to New Canaan have not yet materialized publicly, Eversource and the town have reached an understanding whereby clean sand needed for the capital work of installing a pipeline here could be stored this summer in a largely unused parking area at Waveny, officials said.

The sand itself—which goes around the pipes that would carry natural gas up from Stamford—would sit in an unpaved lot by the water towers, roughly between the softball fields just off the main road through Waveny and the area where the Summer Theatre of New Canaan sets up, according to Recreation Director Steve Benko.

“It will be in an area where it’s not going to bother anybody, and they [Eversource] will have easy access,” Benko said Wednesday at the Park & Recreation Commission meeting, held in the Douglass Room at Lapham Community Center.

It’s been one year since New Canaan leaders called for more concrete figures from Eversource, and the Utilities Commission has been frustrated with the utility longer again. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi has said one plan would bring natural gas to the three schools at Farm and South this summer, with a commitment to expanding downtown within five years.

According to Benko, the route would see a gas line come up from Davenport Ridge Road in Stamford, along Ponus Ridge to Adams Lane, Spring Water Lane, then Jelliff Mill Road, Route 106, and Farm Road. It would serve Waveny Care Center as well as the three schools and YMCA, Benko said.

Town officials have said an estimated 120 residents along that route from Stamford could expect to tap into the line for natural gas service.

Eversource has not yet disclosed or discussed its plans publicly.

The project could commence in late June and wrap up in September, Benko said.

It isn’t clear when residents off of the initial gas line might expect service.

[Editor’s Note: We’ve updated the story with ‘Eversource’ as the name of the utility, instead of ‘Yankee Gas,’ its former name, at the company’s request.]

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