Bill Oestmann

Town Council To Solicit Public Input on Plans for Playhouse on June 23, 29

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The town will hold two meetings this month to solicit public input on a plan to have a New Jersey-based company operate the Playhouse on Elm Street. The movie theater closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic, and became available to a new tenant nine months later, when Bow Tie Cinemas terminated its lease. Over the past several months, the town has been working toward a proposed lease agreement with Montclair, N.J. Cinema Lab. The discussions have been held out of the public eye, with the town claiming an exemption from Connecticut Freedom of Information Act under the “real estate” category. Yet during last week’s regular meeting of the Town Council, details of the proposal with Cinema Lab were made public, and the legislative body scheduled public hearings at 7 p.m. on June 23 and 29, both in-person at Town Hall and via videoconference, to take public comments.

Government

Town Approves Contract To Improve ADA Access To Playhouse

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Town officials last week approved an approximately $34,000 contract with a local architecture firm to draw up accessibility improvements to and around the movie theater on Elm Street. 

The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 during its June 7 meeting to approve the $33,925 contract with Architectural Preservation Studio, DPC, which has offices in New Canaan and New York City. Part of the work will involve designing a three-set switchback ramp to be installed on the Playhouse side of the staircase that runs at the far end of the alley between the movie theater and Le Pan Quotidien, according to Bill Oestmann, superintendent of buildings with the New Canaan Department of Public Works. The ADA-compliant ramp would address a change in grade of about five or six feet between the alley and the parking lot behind it, providing access to that lot for the disabled, Oestmann told the selectmen. “It is pretty steep,” Oestmann said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “It’s going to be a switchback, most likely, so we are going to come up with a few ideas hopefully to how we can achieve that and make it aesthetically nice too,” he said.

Bill Oestmann

Health Department To Be Relocated Temporarily to Irwin Park

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Town officials say they plan to move the New Canaan Health Department temporarily out of the agency’s Vine Cottage home this spring or summer in order to spruce up the prominent Main Street building. 

The exterior repairs to the turreted, yellow structure will take about three weeks, according to Bill Oestmann, superintendent of buildings with the Department of Public Works. “There’s some wood rot over there and some water damage on the outside of the building, which we all can see,” Oestmann told members of the Board of Selectmen during their April 19 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Asked about the status of the Health Department, he said, “I’m going to move them out. I’m going to them up to Irwin for probably about three weeks, weather-permitting. For a couple of reasons.

Bill Oestmann

Town Approves $12,500 Monthly Property Management Fee for Newly Acquired Elm Street Building

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Municipal officials last week approved an agreement with a Norwalk-based company to manage an Elm Street building recently purchased by the town. The Board of Selectmen voted 2-0 to pay WFL Real Estate Services, LLC $12,500 per month to manage the property at 220 Elm St., acquired as the future offices of New Canaan Board of Education. The town has “a property manager group who’s going to be managing that property and with that there are common fees that cover all the expenses,” according to New Canaan Buildings Superintendent Bill Oestmann. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectman Kathleen Corbet voted 2-0 in favor of the agreement during the Board’s March 8 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Selectman Nick Williams was absent.

Bill Oestmann

Selectmen Approve Funds for Roof Repair at Irwin House

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The Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting approved a $24,365 contract with a Stamford-based company to fix the roof of a town-owned building at Irwin Park. The slate roof of the 1963-built Irwin House has rubber in it and is original to the structure, according to Bill Oestmann, buildings superintendent in the Department of Public Works. “It’s been a challenging summer, two summers actually, with the amount of rainfalls that we’ve been getting and everything, so we have started to develop some rain issues on a couple of buildings,” Oestmann told the selectmen at their Dec. 14 meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “Irwin House is no exception to that.”

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectman Nick Williams voted 2-0 in favor of the contract with J. Antonelli Roofing to repair leaks, redo damaged flashing and reset dislodged or missing slate tiles.