Government

‘It Is More Grave Than That’: After Conflicting Findings, Town To Seek Impartial Expert’s View of Former Teen Center Building

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Saying the major disparities among recent findings regarding the structural integrity of the former Outback Teen Center building makes them uncomfortable, town officials on Tuesday said that they will seek an impartial third-party expert’s view. The idea originated with New Canaan’s chief building official, members of the Board of Selectmen said at their regular meeting, and could provide much-needed guidance as New Canaan takes up the question of just what to do with the structure, vacant since July. “We have got such disparity between the original analysis–which said it could fall down in a hurricane—and then the next one is ‘OK everything is hunky dory,’ ” Selectman Nick Williams said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “That is problematic, from my perspective. Clearly, it is more grave than that and I think a third party coming in, at some additional cost, is worth it.”

The new findings are expected to come through prior to next Tuesday’s Board of Finance meeting, the selectmen said, and should cost less than $5,000.

Government

‘A Big Loss’: Town Planner Steve Kleppin To Leave New Canaan for Norwalk Job

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Steve Kleppin recalled that when took the helm as town planner 11 years ago in New Canaan’s Land Use Department, after spending six months as assistant town planner, the agency’s perception in the community was poor. Some on staff at the time had faced criticism from the public and many relationships between the two had gone sour, he said. Yet “through the people that were here and the other people that came on board, we changed that, as a group,” Kleppin recalled Thursday, hours before the town announced that he had taken the role of town planner in neighboring Norwalk. “It’s a well-run area. Even though people might not always like the outcome or the decisions that are made, they’re treated appropriately, treated well and the decisions are thought-out.”

A steady, soft-spoken figure who is highly respected among colleagues, building professionals and property owners in New Canaan—often delivering unwanted news that touches on the largest single investment that residents will ever make—Kleppin will work his last day here on Oct.

Government

‘I’m Honored’: New Canaan’s Chief Building Official Singled Out By Peers for Award

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A professional organization that promotes building safety and works to advance the understanding and enforcement of the state building code has honored a New Canaan municipal employee with a prestigious award. Chief Building Official Brian Platz, in the important position here for nearly 12 years, has received the Clifton Clark Award from the Connecticut Building Officials Association. “What makes this special is that it is my peers, and the best of my peers, are the ones that actually vote on that,” Platz said on a recent morning from his office at Town Hall, a plaque for the award on his desk. “It’s a panel. It’s not one person.

News

‘Responsive in Words But Not in Action’: Neighbors, Officials Eye Long-Neglected Richmond Hill Road Properties

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Town officials say they’ve fielded multiple complaints of blight on two conspicuous, adjacent Richmond Hill Road properties marked by peeling and dilapidated structures, unkempt yards, garbage and general disarray. Owned by New Canaan resident Sam Zendehrouh, the eyesores include a neglected 1820-built home and freestanding garage at 39 Richmond Hill Road and vacant, overgrown lot at 45 Richmond Hill Road where a house that had been constructed the same year came down in 2011. Neighbors in letters to New Canaan Town Building Official Brian Platz have said the remaining house has a hole in its clearly deteriorating roof and that after rainstorms, Zendehrouh himself has been seen dumping buckets of water out of the structure and siphoning rainwater out of the second floor. Asked about the situation, Platz said that the owner “has not been very responsive.”

“He has been responsive in words but not in action,” Platz said. “This is not fair to any of the residents of New Canaan, but especially to the immediate neighbors who have had to live next to that for many years.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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New Canaan on Thursday put a lien on the Forest Street property cited for violating the town’s blight ordinance. Signed by Blight Officer Brian Platz, the town’s chief building official, the 1829-built multi-family home at 74 Forest St. is deteriorating and its .3-acre property is unkempt. The “Blight Lien and Certification of Continuing Lien” notice in the Town Clerk’s office says that $9,800 was owed as of May 22 and $100 per day additional is to be assessed as of that date (bringing the total to $11,500 as of Monday, June 8). ***

More than 40 residents attended NewCanaanite.com’s inaugural Community Coffee on Friday, and the sole topic of discussion for the hour-long talk was the Pop Up Park downtown, suspended by the committee that created and managed it after some merchants raised concerns about traffic and the makeshift plaza’s effect on business.