News

New Canaan Man Says 117-Year-Old Tomb on Ponus Ridge Obstructs Sightline

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Long may, on Ponus Path, this sentry standing,

The sun, the stars, the hunter’s moon, salute;

A silent figure, rugged and commanding,

Bearing its message when our tongues are mute. Yet though we raise the stone and guard it duly,

Stern time, some day shall bid the finger fall,

The only monument that serves us truly

Is the heart’s honest word, to each and all. —From “A Hymn to Ponus,” written by Charles H. Crandall of New Canaan for the Oct. 2, 1897 dedication of the “Monolith on Ponus Path”

A New Canaan man has lodged a complaint with town officials that his sightline as a motorist at Ponus Ridge and Davenport Ridge Road is obscured by a large upright stone on the traffic island there—a 117-year-old monument to a 17th Century native American chief said to be buried nearby. Officials with a working group that oversees traffic calming in New Canaan said Tuesday that a similar request to move the rock had been made about four years ago.

Government

Police Commission Weighs Teacher-Student Parking Spot Swap at New Canaan High School

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Town officials say the best way for New Canaan High School to ensure the safety of students who now must cross a bustling main access road through the campus in the mornings might be to have the teens and teachers swap parking areas. As it is now, most students park in the long lot that runs up alongside the track, then cross the accessway to get into the school, while teachers who have arrived earlier are parking in lots closer to the building itself, according to members of the Police Commission. Based on a suggestion from a working group that oversees traffic calming in New Canaan, the Police Commission on Wednesday opened the possibility of recommending that the district try out the swap. “I like the idea of swapping, because if teachers are coming at 7 o’clock and the kids are coming at 7:30, get the teachers out by the track and let them walk,” Commissioner Paul Foley said during the group’s meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department. Ultimately it will be the school’s own decision how to address what Police Chief Leon Krolikowski flagged as a pedestrian safety hazard at the high school.

Government

Officials Ponder Safe Pedestrian Route to Main Street Sidewalk from Down River Road

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Town officials are trying to figure out a safe way for residents on Down River Road to hook up with the Main Street sidewalk, providing a route to the village center. The first step, according to Tiger Mann, assistant director of the New Canaan Department of Public Works, is to see if there’s a way to get those pedestrians at least as far as the treatment plant driveway—just halfway to a crosswalk at Harrison but at least clear of the blind curve north of Woodland. Michael Stayman of 36 Down River Road, one of nine homes on the street, told Mann and other members of the Traffic Calming Work Group at their most recent meeting that as of now, residents are taking their lives into their hands by running across to the sidewalk on the west side of Main right at Down River Road. “We don’t have any other way because the road is on the opposite side of Main Street from the sidewalk,” Stayman said at the meeting, held Oct. 14 in the training room at the New Canaan Police Department.

News

Citing Danger, New Canaan Seeks to Get Rid of Passing Zones on Smith, Oenoke Ridge Roads

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Saying a pair of passing zones on state roads through cut through New Canaan are dangerous and encourage nothing but speeding, town officials are asking the Connecticut Department of Transportation to do away with one on Smith Ridge Road and another on Oenoke. The Police Commission on Wednesday voted 3-0 in favor of putting forward a formal request to do away with the passing zones along straightaways on both state Route 123 (Smith Ridge) and 124 (Oenoke Ridge). Police Capt. John DiFederico said the passing zones rarely serve their purpose—instead of allowing people traveling within the speed limit to pass very slow motorists, they create potential for a head-on. “I haven’t been getting any emails of people driving too slowly,” DiFederico said during the commission’s meeting, held in the training room at the New Canaan Police Department. “All I get are emails of people driving too fast and there is really no need for it, and actually there is a grave potential for a serious accident, if you live up there and you are in your driveway, if your way is clear to proceed but then you pull out and another car is passing, you could have a very tragic situation.”

The request had been backed up Tuesday by a team of police, fire, emergency management and DPW officials known as the Traffic Calming Work Group.

Government

New Crosswalk Behind Kiwanis Could Extend Walk-Able Access to Downtown New Canaan

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Seeking another way to help New Canaanites walk safely from residential neighborhoods to the downtown, officials are eyeing a plan to install a new crosswalk on Old Norwalk Road, up the hill and behind Kiwanis Park. The crosswalk, at Old Kings Highway, would connect on the west side of the road to a footpath that runs through the woods down to Kiwanis (see map below). And that park soon is expected to connect, by way of a new sidewalk running up to Main Street, to the downtown. Proposed by a town resident, the new crosswalk would, in theory, make it safe for people to walk across Old Norwalk Road from Old Kings Highway. Department of Public Works Assistant Director Tiger Mann said, pending his review, a recommendation to create that mid-block crosswalk would go to the Police Commission, which has final say.