Government

Selectmen Approve New Slate of Fees for 2019 Waveny Pool Passes

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday unanimously approved a new slate of fees for the Waveny Pool. While rates for season passes will hold at $455 for New Canaan families, the out-of-town rate will increase $25 to $1,225 for nonresident families, under the new slate. As in years past, a total of 100 nonresident family passes will be sold following a lottery. 

Here’s a look at the fees:

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams voted in favor of the slate during their regular Board meeting, held at Town Hall. Recreation Director Steve Benko said one change to pool passes will be that a 10-ticket book of guest cards will be sold to residents for $80 versus a 15-ticket book, because it appeared at the end of the 2018 season that most people who purchased the book did not use all 15 tickets. 

The town-owned, self-sustaining Waveny Pool is open each year from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Williams called the pool “a great story” and said Benko and Parks & Recreation Commission Chair Sally Campbell “deserve a lot of credit” for coming to the town with a plan to put it on firm financial footing.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Selectmen: Town Council Should Look Again at ’Mead Park Brick Barn’ Demolition

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Saying a nonprofit group’s effort in planning for the restoration of the Mead Park Brick Barn warrants a stay of execution, the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday decided to forgo voting on contracts to demolish the long-vacant Richmond Hill Road structure. 

Now that the New Canaan Preservation Alliance has poured resources into developing architectural plans for the Brick Barn and identified viable funding sources so that its restoration and maintenance can be privately funded, the Town Council should “weigh in on this,” Selectman Nick Williams said during a regular Board meeting, held at Town Hall. “You cannot recapture history, so I would like to send it back to the Town Council, and that is two weeks from now, and there will be a resolution within the next few weeks one way or the other, and I am committed to that,” Williams said. He referred to the Council’s Feb. 27 meeting, saying that if the legislative body again votes to demolish the Brick Barn, “I would be inclined to go along with that.”

Williams and Selectman Kit Devereaux voted 2-0 to postpone the Board’s decision on the demolition contracts until fresh direction is had from the Town Council. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, long a proponent for demolishing the building, abstained from voting on the motion.

Board of Selectmen

First Selectman: Governor Doesn’t Support Proposed Bills on Forced School District Regionalization

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The governor of Connecticut does not support proposed legislation that would force the regionalization of public schools in the state, New Canaan’s highest elected official said Tuesday morning. Summarizing a meeting with Gov. Ned Lamont held Monday at Town Hall, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said that the 10 people present “talked a good bit about the two bills that are pending that would have forced regionalization of [school] districts.”

“And I think we got a commitment from the governor to issue a public statement that he doesn’t support those measures,” Moynihan said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held at Town Hall. He referred to widely discussed, separate bills proposed by state Sen. Martin Looney (D-11th) and Bob Duff (D-25th). In addition to Moynihan and Lamont, those present at the meeting were New Canaan Selectman Kit Devereaux, Board of Finance Chairman Todd Lavieri, Town Councilmen John Engel and Penny Young, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi, town residents Toddy Turrentine and Tucker Murphy and state Rep. Tom O’Dea (R-125th), Moynihan said. Lamont did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Board of Selectmen

First Selectman: Town Should Consider Paving Saxe Baseball Diamond for Expanded YMCA Parking

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The town’s highest elected official on Tuesday distanced himself from a resident’s proposal to build a new police station where a Saxe Middle School baseball diamond now stands, saying instead that a parking lot could go there. The New Canaan YMCA “has a horrible deficit of parking,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen. Saying that the Saxe baseball field could be built anew at Kiwanis Park, Moynihan said the question facing New Canaan now is “whether or not the town wants accommodate the YMCA, which definitely needs more parking and whether or not people would be agreeable, because that baseball diamond right now is in the worst possible position it could be.”

“There is no parking,” Moynihan said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “You can’t park at the YMCA.”

The idea appeared to catch Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams off-guard. 

“So you are not now talking about new police station at Saxe, but additional parking for the YMCA?” Williams said. 

Saying he loves the YMCA and that he knows Moynihan is a member, Williams noted that the organization “had a big spend to do a renovation” recently. 

“They should have thought about parking,” Williams said. “But for us to take Saxe fields and turn it into a parking lot, I am not supporting it.”

“For the same reasons I would be opposed to putting a new police station at Saxe field, I would be opposed to putting a parking lot—just a parking lot, which probably is even worse—at Saxe fields,” he said.

Board of Assessment Appeals

After Reval, Total Reductions through Assessment Appeals Expected To Be Minor

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Town officials said Tuesday that the value of all taxable property in New Canaan is not expected to change substantially as a result of assessment appeals following the recent revaluation. The Grand List likely will see a reduction of about $20 million after the Board of Assessment Appeals completes its work, according to Sebastian Calderella, the town assessor. During a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, Caldarella provided the following history of appeals after a town-wide reval:

 

“It varies, depending on where the market is going,” Caldarella said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. 

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan noted that the figures Caldarella cited are not final since some people appeal local assessment decisions in court. Officials have said New Canaan’s Grand List would decline by some $570 million as a result of the revaluation, to about $7.7 billion overall. Selectman Nick Williams called the $20 million figure is “a proverbial drop in the bucket” as part of the overall Grand List.