Board of Selectmen

Outdoor Basketball Courts at Saxe To Get Major Upgrade

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The well-used basketball courts behind Saxe Middle School stand to get a major upgrade, thanks to the foresight and generosity of the Parent Teacher Council. Cracked and with weeds growing out of the asphalt, the outdoor courts currently aren’t regulation for middle school use, according to Saxe PTC Co-Presidents Jess Huetter and Jessica Knowles. Yet the courts rank among “the most utilized” spaces at Saxe by students and the wider community, Knowles told members of the Board of Selectmen at their most recent meeting. “There are kids of all grades, all ages at school, genders—it’s used on the weekends by the community, after soccer practice, lacrosse practice, kids come and play, there’s always pick-up basketball games,” Knowles said during a presentation to the selectmen at their Feb. 20 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Government

New Canaan Farmers Market Approved for April 20 Opening

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The Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting approved use of the Lumberyard Lot downtown for the New Canaan Farmers Market for the upcoming season. The Farmers Market will be held 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays from April 20 to Dec. 21, following a 3-0 vote by First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll at their Feb. 20 meeting. “The farmers and the vendors are actually anxiously getting ready to get out there and be back to the community,” Market Master Lexi Gazy of Oxford-based Gazy Brothers Farm said at the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Board of Selectmen
Talmadge Hill Railroad Crossing

Cameras To Be Installed at Police Impound Area of Talmadge Hill Lot [Correction]

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved an approximately $9,000 contract with a Bay Shore, N.Y.-based company to install cameras and a monitoring system at Talmadge Hill Parking Lot. The security measure is intended to protect the New Canaan Police Department’s “impound lot” at the top tier of the Talmadge Hill lot, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. “This camera will perform double duty, as it will give us the first coverage that we have over in that lot,” Zagarenski told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “It’s been our overall goal for security for some years now. This will provide the view of the Talmadge Hill Lot for it.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted in favor of the $9,324.49 contract with A+ Technology & Security.

Government

New Canaan Family Tradition Continues with Appointment of Katie (Franco) O’Neill to Parking Commission 

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A family tradition in New Canaan is set to continue with the appointment last week of a local woman to the Parking Commission. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 at its Feb. 5 meeting to appoint Katie O’Neill, née Franco, to the volunteer body. O’Neill’s father had served on the Parking Commission and her brother, Rick, served for decades prior to stepping down in 2020. 

Selectman Steve Karl said, “On Katie, I feel a full circle because my career in service started with her older brother, Rick, on the Parking Commission.”

“I served with Rick on the Parking Commission for years before going onto the [Town] Council,” he continued at the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “And Katie’s a Franco, so she’s lived here her whole life and has intimate knowledge of parking and the way everything works in town.

Board of Selectmen

Town Approves New Fees for Restaurants Offering Outdoor Seating on Public Property

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Saying it’s a more sensible system, town officials on Tuesday approved new fees for restaurants offering outdoor dining in downtown New Canaan. The Board of Selectmen also voted in favor of edits to the town’s “Sidewalk Café Guidelines” (see the meeting’s public packet here) by getting rid of a section that says businesses can’t encroach more than seven feet onto the sidewalk—a rule that restaurants with newly wider sidewalks are violating—as well as noting that a four-foot-wide pedestrian pathway must be maintained on the sidewalk as per ADA. Town Planner Sara Carey, who proposed the changes to the selectmen, noted that currently the town charges a “$300 flat fee regardless of how many seats you had” for outdoor dining. “I don’t think that’s necessarily how we should operate anymore if we are allowing people to bump out more than seven feet under the sidewalk, so I’ve proposed a sliding scale,” Carey told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Under the new system, those with up to 15 seats will pay $400 per season (April through October), those with 16 to 30 seats $800 and those with 31-plus seats $1,600.