Board of Finance

Lawsuit: Town’s Denial of Sewer Application ‘Illegal’

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A lawyer representing the owner of a property at Weed and Elm Streets, site of a planned 102-unit multifamily redevelopment, is appealing a municipal body’s decision last month to deny a proposed relocated sewer connection. The Board of Finance, in its role as New Canaan’s Water Pollution Control Authority, violated state law in its “illegal” denial, which was “an abuse of discretion and/or not supported by substantial evidence in the records” for several reasons, according to a complaint filed in state Superior Court by attorney Tim Hollister of Hartford-based Hinckley Allen. The property at 751 Weed St. is already connected to the town’s sewer system, “ample sewer capacity exists for the proposed use” and “no system extension is proposed,” Hollister said in the complaint, received Monday by the Town Clerk’s office. “[T]here are no engineering impediments to connecting,” the complaint said, the sewer extension will be privately funded and “the applicants have a right to approval and the WPCA has a non-discretionary / ministerial obligation to grant the application.” 

“In denying the application, the WPCA illegally used sewer system access to control or regulate land use, which is beyond its statutory authority,” Hollister said in the complaint, and the denial was also “pre-textual in the sense that the record shows that its stated denial reasons were not the actual factors that resulted in the decision.”

“The record contains no factual or legal basis for detail of the application,” the complaint said.

Board of Finance

VFW Puts Out Call for Volunteers on Saturday; Town Poised To Deny $15,000 Request

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Members of the local VFW are calling on volunteers to help with an effort in Lakeview Cemetery this weekend. At 8 a.m. Saturday, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Howard M. Bossa and Peter C. Langenus Post 653 will pick up the 1,300 flags placed beside veterans’ gravestones at the cemetery in advance of Memorial Day, according to VFW Commander Francis “Mike” McGlinn, an artillery officer during the Vietnam War. “We checked with Arlington National and with the State of Connecticut VFW, and the protocol is to remove the flags before they become worn and disrespected,” McGlinn said. “Arlington does it the week after Memorial Day. An additional reason for us to pick them up now is so we can use them again next year and save $1,500.”

Those willing to help with the effort are asked to meet at 8 a.m. on July 16 near the “veterans area” of the cemetery, located off of the Main Street entrance, over the bridge and on the right-hand side of the main road through Lakeview Cemetery. 

The collection comes as town officials are poised to deny the VFW’s request for $15,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds. 

During a public hearing before the Town Council last fall, VFW member John McLane, a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam, said the organization had spent a great deal of money in recent years on the veterans’ plaques that hang inside the northern entrance to Town Hall.

Government

‘Counselor, Partner, Sounding Board and Thinker’: Board of Finance Thanks Neil Budnick, Stepping Down After 15 Years

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Members of the Board of Finance last week offered high praise for a fellow member of the appointed body who is stepping down after 15 years. Neil Budnick has been “a phenomenal counselor, partner, sounding board and thinker,” Board Chair Lavieri said during the group’s regular meeting held June 7 at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“You have added so much value to this board on all of the things you’ve done,” he said. “On anything you’ve done. And you always raise your hand, and you’re always willing to help and you always go the extra mile. Town pensions are overfunded, and there’s a lot of guidance there from the committee, yourself included, of course.

Government

Moynihan: Police Likely Will Occupy Office Building Downtown During Renovation of NCPD

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The New Canaan Police Department likely will move into an office building downtown while its headquarters is extensively renovated and in some ways rebuilt as part of a long-discussed and sorely needed upgrade, officials say. The town has “tentatively agreed” with the owner and property manager at 39 Locust Ave.—known to many as the offices of the Board of Education, which is moving to Elm Street—for NCPD to use as “swing space” during the police station project, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. 

“That will blend great with what the superintendent has been paying for the space, and so that will be through 2024 and the lease otherwise would have gone to 2026 but the superintendent had already given notification of terminating that,” Moynihan told members of the Board of Finance during a general update at their May 10 meeting. It isn’t clear just when the project at 174 South Ave. will get underway or how long it will take. A town committee now is weighing two proposals that have different visions for the back-half of the 1926-built police station—one to renovate and another to completely rebuild.

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Town: Land Use Attorney’s Comments Delay Filing of Moratorium Application

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A prominent land use attorney’s feedback on the town’s application for relief from a state affordable housing law has delayed its widely anticipated submission, officials say. In reference to the application for a four-year “moratorium” for the town, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said Tuesday that “after getting some comments from a rather skilled lawyer who wrote the law, we’re going to get that back in very soon.” The lawyer in question, Tim Hollister, “makes a habit commenting on people’s applications before they’re even filed,” Moynihan told members of the Board of Finance during an update at their regular meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “That’s what the public comment period is for,” Moynihan said. “Since he [Hollister] wrote the law, he knows how to use it.”

Tucker Murphy, administrative officer under Moynihan, had said during the April 19 Board of Selectmen meeting that the town anticipated submitting the application two weeks ago (April 28).