Bill Oestmann

Town Officials Approve Contract for Design and Engineering Services at Outback

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Officials on Monday morning voted in favor of a contract that’s designed to kickstart the long-awaited transformation of a public building behind Town Hall from a defunct teen center to a useful, rented commercial space. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 to approve a $44,000 contract with Woodbury-based Gary Numberger, Architect LLC for design and engineering services in connection with the former Outback Teen Center. The New Canaan Department of Human Services is to move into the ground floor of the building from its current home in Vine Cottage, while a dance studio rents space on the main floor. According to Department of Public Works Building Superintendent Bill Oestmann, the municipal agency will get a dedicated new entrance from the Town Hall side of the Outback. “It will be more inviting,” he said of the planned new entrance, and the Human Services Department will also move into renovated space with offices and a conference room.

Bill Oestmann

Plan To Remake ‘Irwin House’ As Office Space for Nonprofits Stalls at Town Funding Bodies; Public’s Input Sought

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Members of New Canaan’s legislative body said last week that they need more information and public input prior to committing an estimated $400,000 to a renovation of Irwin House as a base of operations for local nonprofit organizations. 

Though rent from three nonprofit organizations that have shown an interest in relocating to the Irwin Park house would come to about $46,500—exceeding the annual cost of maintenance—the town first must gauge whether taxpayers would prefer to tear the structure down, members of the Town Council said during their regular meeting. Chairman John Engel said the three nonprofits interested in moving to the Weed Street property—New Canaan Land Trust, New Canaan Community Foundation and Staying Put in New Canaan—also should have an opportunity say how important such a move would be for them, what alternatives they’ve seen and how hard it is to find a workable space. Councilman Penny Young said, “There really are a lot of questions. This is indeed the cart before the horse. I mean way before horse.”

The comments came as the Town Council discussed a possible investment of $80,000 for architectural, engineering and other services that would be needed prior to the physical renovation work.

Bill Oestmann

Officials: Local Dance Studio Lined Up for Outback; Finance Board Pushes for Sale of Vine Cottage

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A local dance studio is lined up to rent the upper level of the former Outback Teen Center on a part-time basis, town officials said Wednesday night. With the studio operating from about 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. on weekdays, and restricted from putting on performances there, the town could rent out the space for the balance of the day, generating revenue that—combined with an estimated $35,000 that the studio would pay annually in rent—would help New Canaan cover its maintenance costs for the long-vacant structure, according to Bill Oestmann, superintendent of buildings with the Department of Public Works. (Oestmann declined to name the specific studio, though some of what he said indicated it could be the New England Academy of Dance—see below.)

As long discussed, the lower level of the Outback could be configured into office space for the Department of Human Services, an agency that would leave its current home in Vine Cottage so that that building could be sold, Oestmann told members of the Town Council at their regular meeting. Oestmann said he could foresee parents dropping off their kids and then visiting local businesses. “My hope would be if they are waiting, they can park here and shop downtown, so with an hour or two that their children are there, they can hopefully visit the restaurants and shops in town and spend some money,” he said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. 

By the time the dance studio would start up around 4:30 or 5 p.m., he said, Town Hall workers would be finished for the day and the parking lot there empty. 

“There is a little breathing room in that timeframe,” he said.

Selectmen Approve $100,000 Contract for Windows at Irwin Barn; Some Broken by Vandalism

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Town officials last week approved a $100,000 contract to restore broken windows at the 1908-built Irwin Barn, including some that resulted from vandalism. The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously at its regular meeting for the contract with Ridgefield-based Alden Bailey Restoration, one of two companies that put in a bid for the job. “They need a lot of health and care to get back up to par,” Buildings Superintendent Bill Oestmann told the selectmen at their Oct. 9 meeting, held in Town Hall. “There’s a couple that will have to be replaced.”

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams voted 3-0 for $101,200 contract, which includes $9,200 in contingency.

Government

Town To Pay $20,000 To Replace Vandalized Parking Machines at Talmadge Hill Train Station

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a $19,508 contract with an Auburn, Mass.-based company to replace the two pay-to-park machines destroyed by vandals earlier this month at the Talmadge Hill Train Station lot. The “Parkeon Strada BNA PAL” machines from Wescor Parking Controls Inc. will take about eight to 10 weeks to arrive once approved by town funding bodies, Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting. One of the machine had its “whole insides taken out” during the vandalism, discovered Sept. 7, Miltenberg said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “They attempted to break into the other machine, but when they found, I think, that there was not much money in the first, they abandoned the idea of breaking totally into the second machine,” she said.