Government

Outback Board Unknowingly Alerted in 2007-08 To What Became ‘Potentially Disastrous’ Structural Danger at Teen Center

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A former board president of New Canaan’s defunct teen center said Tuesday morning that the organization’s directors had learned through a study conducted as early as 2007 of a “hinge effect” in the building’s second floor—a part of the Outback’s design and construction that professional engineers now describe as unsafe for the young people it had been built to serve. The danger developed over time as the flooring began to “crown,” and there’s no way the Outback’s board could have known the hazard it would create when the teen center opened in 2001, officials said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen. Yet the first reaction from an engineer who entered the Outback building before it was closed to the public last week was, “ ‘You’ve got to close this building. No one should come in here,’ ” according to Bill Oestmann, buildings superintendent with the New Canaan Department of Public Works. “And when I told them what they were doing there, he explained that having a large dance up there, if you have 100 kids and people moving around, that whole weight load is bouncing going back and forth, and he just said that floor could drop down on one side because it’s just hinged up there,” Oestmann said at the meeting, held in Town Hall.

News

Officials: Piles of Dirt at Saxe To Remain through Next Fall Unless Some Other Place Is Found for Them

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The dirt piled conspicuously at Saxe Middle School will remain there through the major, estimated 15-month construction project now underway unless some place else is found for it, officials said Tuesday. Mounds of topsoil located off the corner of Farm Road and South Avenue and elsewhere at Saxe are to be returned to the site “to smooth it back over” once a major renovation and expansion concludes next fall, according to Penny Rashin, chairman of the Saxe Building Committee. Responding to a question from Selectmen Beth Jones at a Board of Selectmen meeting, Rashin said she was aware that “everybody is going to want to know about the dirt because you see it as soon as you come in on South Avenue.”

Jones asked about it because, she said, “if I was a junior high kid and I saw those big piles of dirt, I just would not be able to resist.”

“You will need a monitor for that,” Jones said at the meeting, held at Town Hall. The exchange came as Jones and First Selectman Rob Mallozzi voted 2-0 to approve a guaranteed maximum price in the construction manager’s contract for the project, which will see parts of Saxe expanded and a 12-room addition created on the campus. Officials in a ceremony broke ground on the project last week, minutes after school had let out for the summer.

Government

‘It Is Sad, Really’: After Multiple Incidents with Angry Ticketed Motorists, Town To Purchase Five Body Cameras for Parking Enforcement Officers

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In what New Canaan’s highest elected official is calling a sad statement on the way some motorists treat the town’s parking enforcement officers, the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved funds to purchase five body cameras that the workers soon will wear on the job. Approved 2-0 by the selectmen, the acquisition follows the arrests of a New Canaan man last month after a threatening incident at the Parking Bureau, a Norwalk woman this month who made a scene downtown after being ticketed, and a still-active case now two years old that saw a Greenwich man use racial slurs in arguing with a parking enforcement officer at Morse Court. “It is sad, really, that you have to do this,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said at the selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. “And these are folks trying to do their jobs.”

Mallozzi and Selectman Beth Jones voted in favor of a $3,643 contract with Kansas-based Digital Ally to purchase the devices. Selectman Nick Williams was not in attendance.

Government

Town Approves $10,000 for Mosquito Management; Selectmen Discuss Zika Virus

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New Canaan likely would work with neighboring communities under the Connecticut Department of Public Health’s guidelines if the Zika virus ever turns up in mosquitoes in the region, town officials said. No locally acquired cases have been reported to the DPH since the agency launched a surveillance program in February, according to the state. And “at this point in time, there has not been a mosquito that lives and breathes in Connecticut that can transmit the Zika virus or contain the Zika virus,” according to John Howe, parks superintendent with the New Canaan Department of Public Works. “They [the Zika-carrying mosquitoes] are getting closer and there have to be some changes in the lifecycle for that to happen,” Howe told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held June 14 at Town Hall. The comments—prompted by an inquiry by Selectman Nick Williams—came as the selectmen approved a $9,960 contract with Branford-based All Habitat Services LLC to apply an insecticide called ‘Spheratax’ to storm drains as part of New Canaan’s regular, annual mosquito management program.

Government

‘It’s Going to Impact the Quality of Our Lives’: Concerns About Locust Avenue Parking Deck Plans Linger

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved funds for preliminary, pre-construction work on a proposed new Locust Avenue parking deck, conditioned on two things: that a widely anticipated traffic study turns up no safety concerns and that there’s input from police, fire and EMTs on the plan. The architectural and engineering services, from a Rocky Hill-based firm, come to a total of $52,226, under a contract approved during the selectmen’s regular meeting. “We are not going to go ahead with this until we get our traffic study and involve our police and fire department,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said during the meeting, held Tuesday at Town Hall. An initial traffic study conducted several years ago flagged no reasons to delay or reject the project, however, people felt that the study wasn’t complete, according to Mike Pastore, director of the Department of Public Works. A second traffic consultant was hired, and the report should be analyzed within the next few days, he said.