Government

Town Approves Waveny Ice Rink for Winter Season, Postpones Food Truck Decision

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Town officials this week approved installation of the temporary ice rink at Waveny for the upcoming season while putting off a decision with respect to allowing food trucks there. 

Located on the lot serving the Orchard Field with its two softball diamonds, the open-air rink launched two years ago. The Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting on Tuesday took up a request to green-light the 2024-25 season as well as a separate request to allow food trucks there to serve skaters and their families. Saying more information is needed regarding the trucks’ hours of operation in the public park, the selectmen postponed a decision on them. “We’re approving food trucks a lot these days,” Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “And they [food trucks] can be really additive.

Government

Town OK’s Sale of T-Shirts at FCIAC X-Country Championships in Waveny

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Town officials on Tuesday approved the sale at Waveny this week of commemorative T-shirts benefiting the county’s high school athletics organization. The Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting voted 3-0 in favor of allowing the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference or ‘FCIAC’ to sell the T-shirts at its cross-country finals, to be held Wednesday. “The FCIAC likes to sell commemorative T-shirts for this event,” Parks and Recreation Director John Howe told members of the Board at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of allowing the sales. Carlson noted that New Canaan likely is one of the few communities that doesn’t allow that type of commerce in its parks by right. She asked whether money earned through T-shirt sales goes back to the FCIAC.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Affordable Housing: Town Approves Loan of Up to $4 Million for NCHA’s ‘Avalon’ Acquisition

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Though the funds likely won’t be needed, officials say, the town is prepared to offer a $4 million loan to the New Canaan Housing Authority or ‘NCHA’ as that entity works to acquire a 9.1-acre apartment development located opposite Lakeview Cemetery. Following recent votes by municipal funding bodies, the town is ready to offer the loan so that the Housing Authority can cover expenses related to its hopeful purchase of 106 Lakeview Ave. The property includes 10 residential buildings with dozens of units of various sizes, 11 garages and one large pool, tax records show. 

The acquisition is expected to help New Canaan remain exempt from a widely discussed state affordable housing law. The town faces the challenge of creating new affordable units in order to continue doing so. “Right now, it still remains that it’s likely that we will not need any funds from the town,” NCHA Chair Scott Hobbs told members of the Board of Finance during a special meeting held Sept. 16 at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

Referring to the company that created the abutting Canaan Parish affordable housing development (and redeveloped it in partnership with the Housing Authority and town), Hobbs continued: “We’re still working a little bit with New Canaan [Neighborhoods] in order to try to boost our equity.

Government

Canada Geese To Be Hazed Away from NCHS, Saxe

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New Canaan soon will see border collies chasing off the Canada geese that gather and soil playing fields at the middle and high schools. For years, the town has successfully used a Wilton-based company to rid Mead Park of the geese there, according to John Howe, New Canaan’s director of parks and recreation. “We don’t harm the geese by any means,” Howe told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held Tuesday at Town Hall and via videoconference. “At the high school and Saxe, they’re going to do twice a day, seven days a week, but they’re offering us to do more in the beginning because they feel that they’re going to fly from Saxe to the high school and back and forth,” he said. “So they’re planning on coming at least three times a day until they can consistently move them.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 to approve a one-year $9,900 contract with Geese Relief for services at Saxe Middle School and New Canaan High School.

News

Town Approves One-Year Extension for Cloud Storage of Police Camera Videos

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Town officials on Tuesday approved an approximately $33,000 contract for cloud software storage of evidence footage recorded by New Canaan Police body and vehicle cameras. The department is required to retain video and audio recordings for various amounts of time depending on what the footage is—for example, according to Capt. Joseph Farenga, drunk-driving arrests must be stored for two years. “For our standard footage, I believe it’s 60 or 90 days that we hold onto it if there’s no incident associated with it,” he told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of renewing NCPD’s $33,400 one-year contract with Wallingford-based Telrepco. Carlson noted that there’s “only one data storage company that all the police use in the state of Connecticut,” saying she envisions the cost of storage to rise with the proliferation of body cameras in law enforcement. She asked Farenga whether there are other providers.