Bill Oestmann

‘It Was Unforeseen’: Town Approves Additional $50,000 for Carriage Barn Project

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Town officials this month increased a contract for renovation work at the Carriage Barn in Waveny by more than $50,000, in part to meet the price of more expensive materials amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

One of the change-orders for the project was “basically due to COVID, the timing from when we bid the project to when we awarded the project, material prices skyrocketed,” Tiger Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their Oct. 5 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

The selectmen approved funding for a revised total project of $289,588.46, compared to an original project of $238,700, Mann said. Now underway and with a hopeful completion date next month, the work addresses water-related problems that had been threatening the structure for some 50 years, unbeknownst to the town. Specifically, officials opening up the walls on the inside of the Carriage Barn found “all the water was draining through the outside of the walls and then coming inside and saturating the walls” so that parts of the structure had to be removed, Mann said. “Once we noticed that, we had to go on the outside and dig down and place additional concrete there to stop that migration of water,” Mann said. 

The town now is placing concrete on the outside to address the water migration problem, Mann said.

Government

Town Approves $40,000 Contract To Redesign ‘Potting Shed’ at Waveny as All-Season Bathroom

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Town officials last week agreed to enter into an approximately $40,000 contract with a New Canaan-based design firm to help convert a structure in Waveny Park into a year-round bathroom facility. The “potting shed” at Waveny is located next to the Powerhouse Theatre, down the hill from forecourt of the main house. The building has been “used for storage for a long time,” New Canaan Buildings Superintendent Bill Oestmann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held Aug. 3 at Town Hall. “It suffered a couple of issues last year where the floor gave way and we had to do a little interior demolition on it,” Oestmann said.

Bill Oestmann

Moynihan: Town Likely To Announce New Movie Theater Operator Next Month

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New Canaan’s highest-elected official said Monday that the town likely will make an announcement next month regarding a new operator for the movie theater downtown. Town officials “will probably have an April announcement” on the Playhouse on Elm Street, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. “We have several active discussions going for reopening the movie theater,” he said during a regular meeting of the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure. “Maybe April is optimistic, but at least it’s in the works,” Moynihan said. The theater was ordered closed one year ago as the COVID-19 pandemic set in, and Bow Tie Cinemas then terminated its lease agreement.

First Selectman: Playhouse on Elm Street Likely To Get New Movie Operator This Year

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The town-owned Playhouse on Elm Street likely will have a new movie theater operator installed this year, New Canaan’s highest elected official said Tuesday. 

Vacated as per the termination of an agreement by longtime tenant Bow Tie Cinemas, the iconic 1923-built movie house will undergo some sorely needed capital work and then likely will get “an independent operator right now, in the next year, as far as a movie company,” according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. “I think there are people that are interested operating [The Playhouse],” Moynihan said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held via videoconference. “Not one of the big chains. So I think that is what we are most likely looking at. A different kind of model.”

The comments came as the selectmen reviewed a termination agreement from Bow Tie, which had been expected to rent the largest commercial space in the cupola-topped building through 2022, under the lease, with an option to renew through 2027. 

However, the theater was ordered closed in March as the COVID-19 pandemic set in and then “when they did get the order that they could open, they can’t open,” according to Bill Oestmann, building superintendent in the New Canaan Department of Public Works.

Government

Emergency Boiler Replacement at Police Station; Committee Formed To Determine Future Home of NCPD

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First Selectman Kevin Moynihan has approved an emergency order for a Danbury-based company to fix a failing boiler at New Canaan Police headquarters, officials say. The boiler was leaking and emitting carbon monoxide into the South Avenue structure, according to Bill Oestmann, superintendent of buildings with the New Canaan Department of Public Works. It’s one of two boilers at the police station, which originally was the first New Canaan High School when it opened in 1927. “The one boiler is carrying the building for the moment,” Oestmann told members of the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting, held Tuesday via videoconference. “We’d like to make this repair to reseal it before it gets too cold.