Government

10 Yellow Wood Trees Coming to Kiwanis Park

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a contract with a New Canaan-based nursery to acquire 10 trees that will greet visitors to Kiwanis Park. The $6,850 contract with Frogtown Nurseries covers the purchase of the yellow wood trees that will be planted on a parking lot island that used to have Norway maples, Tree Warden Bob Horan told the Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting. Those invasive maples were “half-dead” and “decayed” because they’d been planted improperly years ago—in the late-1960s or early-‘70s, Horan said. The yellow woods are native to Kentucky with a “nice branching pattern,” their “white flowers” blooming in May and cascading down, Horan said. “Very insect and disease-free and very adaptable to different sites and soil conditions,” he said.

Government

New Sugar Maples on Farm Road To Screen Rooftop Equipment at Saxe Addition

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Officials soon will plant four sugar maple trees on Farm Road alongside the new addition to Saxe Middle School, an effort to create the feel of a tree-lined neighborhood street. The 4-inch caliper sugar maples will replace some of the trees that came down on Farm to make way for the new construction at Saxe, according to Tree Warden Bob Horan. Horan told members of the Board of Selectmen at their most recent meeting that he met with Saxe Building Committee Chairman Penny Rashin and Vice Chairman Jim Beall, and that the trees “will hide the building to some extent especially the equipment up on the roof.”

“And I think it will look nice,” Horan said at the selectmen meeting, held at Town Hall. “It’s a continued effort to make some of these streets look nice.”

Funds for the plantings will come from the Board of Education, Horan said. (The school board signs off on the work though funds come from the town-approved Saxe Building Committee budget, officials said.)

Selectman Nick Williams asked whether the sugar maples are expected to create a “tree screen” on Farm Road.

Government

Cherry Trees Coming To Cherry Street

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After planting elm trees on Elm Street, New Canaan’s tree warden on Tuesday said he’s bringing cherry trees to Cherry Street. Bob Horan, owner of Pauley Tree & Lawn Care Inc., told the Board of Selectmen that he’s overseeing the planting of three cherry trees near the corner of Cherry Street and Burtis Avenue where a dead sugar maple now stands. “I like the cherries on Cherry and elms on Elm—I commend you for that,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said during the board’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. The discussion emerged as Mallozzi and Selectman Beth Jones by a 2-0 vote (Selectman Nick Williams was absent) approved a $14,160 contract with a Stamford-based tree care company for multiple tree pruning and removals at various locations around town. The work at Burtis and Cherry is part of the bid won by Stamford-based Almstead Tree, Shrub & Lawn Care, Horan said.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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New Canaan Fire Department officials at about 11:15 a.m. on Monday responded to a request from Officer Allyson Halm—head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section—to assist in corralling a baby deer that had become trapped in a backyard on Millport Avenue. Halm said the firefighters were highly responsive and helpful, and the animal was freed. ***

The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved a contract between the Parks Department and Karl Chevrolet for two trucks: a new low-boy that will cost a net of $50,644 and a new pickup truck that will cost $41,670. Those costs reflect what officials called generous trade-in price discounts from the local dealership. “I think the Karls are being very nice to us,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said.

Government

Tree Warden To Plant Three Sycamores along Cherry Street

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The town official who oversees trees along New Canaan’s public roads is planning to improve the grass verge that runs along Cherry Street as it approaches Main with three sycamores. Behind what’s known as the Telephone Building—on the north side of Cherry Street before the curve at Club Sandwich—the grass strip had trees in the past but they’ve been cut down “for various reasons,” according to Tree Warden Bob Horan. “This is a good, open spot where we want to have tree-lined streets in the center of town,” said Horan, a Connecticut licensed arborist since 1981 who also is president of Pauley Tree & Lawn Care. “This is a beautiful spot to improve,” he told NewCanaanite.com. “We have sycamores across the street, so that will go with the flow—it’s a nice street tree.