Government

Town: Green Grass Expected Late Fall at Irwin House Demo Site

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Town officials on Tuesday approved another $84,000 for the remediation of contaminated soils at the former Irwin House site. The funds—to be paid to the Stamford Wrecking Company following a 3-0 vote by the Board of Selectmen—hopefully will be the final payment in a demolition and abatement project budgeted for about $770,000 all in, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. The overall project is coming in about $29,000 over that spending plan, he told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Asked when the public can expect to see green grass on the site of the former Irwin House, Zagarenski said in October-November — so long as no further contaminants turn up. “I don’t suspect we’re going to find anything, but if we’re trying to find the clean limits and we hit into another area that’s [contaminated]—I don’t see it, I don’t foresee it happening, but there is that [chance],” he said.

Amy Murphy Carroll

‘If We Lose This Pool, We Will Never Get It Back’: Selectmen Weigh in on New Canaan Y’s Valles Pool

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New Canaan’s top elected officials are weighing in on a widely discussed community issue involving a venerable local nonprofit organization. The CEO of the New Canaan YMCA has said that the South Avenue facility’s 46-year-old Valles Pool must close by the end of this year due to required repairs. It faces one to two years of construction, she said, and the Y’s Board of Directors has established a committee to examine the problem and weigh the cost-benefit of restoring the pool versus reimagining the space to serve swimming as well as non-swimming needs. On Tuesday, Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll called for New Canaanites to “pay attention” to a “potential major change in the Y.”

“Their board has been reviewing their facilities and what to do, and there has been some discussion about taking the main diving pool and swim pool, the Valles Pool, offline permanently, potentially with perhaps needs for more dry land,” Murphy Carroll said during the Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. She continued: “It’s all proposal stage.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Selectman: Town Should Plant Screening Trees on Rights-of-Way at Weed and Elm

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One of New Canaan’s top elected officials said Tuesday that the town should prioritize the planting of trees at Weed and Elm Streets to screen the building project that emerges there. Last week, the Planning & Zoning Commission, following a state Superior Court judge’s order, approved a four-story, 102-unit affordable housing complex at 751 Weed St. The property’s owner, New Canaan developer Arnold Karp, has said he plans to begin construction in the fourth quarter. “One way, shape, or form there’s going to be something built at that place,” Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll said during the Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. She continued: “It could take a couple of years.

Amy Murphy Carroll

‘That Just Wasn’t Honest’: Selectmen Call for Full Accounting of Delayed Waveny Elevator Project

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Saying delays and cost overruns on the Waveny House elevator project are unacceptable, members of the Board of Selectmen this week called for more transparency from Public Works officials, a specific number for how much it has already cost and regular updates on the widely anticipated installation. 

Everyone is “frustrated” with the project, described as being on track for completion this month then just one week later pushed out to July-August, Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll noted. “I’m incredibly frustrated with this, because since I was on the Board of Selectmen and I have asked at least once a month, ‘Where are we in the elevator? Are we okay? Are we on time?’ ” Murphy Carroll told DPW Buildings Superintendent Bill Oestmann during the regular selectmen meeting held Tuesday at Town Hall and via videoconference. “Two weeks ago, we were told to be done by the end of April,” Murphy Carroll continued.

Government

OSHA Cites Issue at WWTP, Town Approves Funds for Pump Safety Guards

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Officials last week approved an approximately $17,500 contract with a Bridgeport-based company to create guards for a town facility after federal inspectors identified a safety issue. Last month, representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration walked through Department of Public Works buildings, as well as Town Hall and the newly renovated New Canaan Police Department—the first time that OSHA came for such an inspection since 2017, according to DPW officials. While in the Waste Water Treatment Plant, an inspector found that eight pumps showing about two inches of exposed, slow-spinning drive shaft on each side of the motor represent “a safety hazard,” according to Bill Oestmann, DPW’s superintendent of buildings. 

“And they say because it’s an exposed shaft it should be covered,” Oestmann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their April 7 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. The pumps, which are bolted to the floor in a lightly trafficked area of the plant, have been in place for more than 25 years “and they’ve been running with no problem, but OSHA felt that they needed some safety guards on these pumps,” he said. The Board—First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll—voted 3-0 in favor of DPW’s request to enter into a $17,600 contract with Hard Corps Iron Works to create those guards, which Oestmann described as a “kind of safety cage” that still will allow for repairs. 

Public Works Director Tiger Mann noted that “at the time of the installation it wasn’t determined we needed it because we asked the question at the time.”

The selectmen asked what kind of accident OSHA foresaw (someone’s clothing or very long hair perhaps getting caught), what is the height of the pumps (ground level), how often inspections happen (every five to seven years), where the funds are coming from (sewer fund contingency) and whether Board of Finance approval is needed (yes, received later on Tuesday).