Government

Republican Cristina A. Ross Enters New Canaan First Selectman Race

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A third Republican on Monday threw her hat into the ring in what has become a highly competitive race to secure party backing for the town’s highest elected position. Cristina A. Ross, a New Canaan resident for 26 years, professional architect and Town Council member for two years who had spent 10 years on the Parks & Recreation Commission, announced her candidacy for first selectman during a press event at Town Hall. Saying her priority would be “strengthening the New Canaan community by establishing a framework for the delivery of services with full accountability and transparency as a method of doing business,” Ross said in a prepared statement that she would focus on boosting property sales by decking the parking lots at the Lumberyard and Talmadge Hill, controlling tax increases, bringing in natural gas and improving communications within town government. Asked about the last point specifically, Ross told NewCanaanite.com: “There is a lack of communication between the Board of Selectmen and town departments, whether that is the Town Council or P&Z and that has been voiced on different occasions by different people, that we are not included in some of the goals set and we hear about it when the time comes to vote on it and the decision is already made. Not being able to raise a voice and a concern and suggest alternatives is a detriment to the function of being a public official.”

She joins two fellow Republicans in seeking party backing at the July 18 caucus: First Selectman Rob Mallozzi announced in March that he will seek a fourth term in the office, and fellow town councilman Kevin Moyhihan on May 30 announced that he was running for first selectman.

Government

Christa Kenin Announces Candidacy for Selectman, Widening Republican Pool

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Christa Kenin, a Republican who has served for two years on the Town Council, on Thursday afternoon announced her candidacy for the position of selectman. A former president of the Newcomers Club who also has served on the West School PTC, Kenin is an attorney by profession who said she represents transparency, innovation and hard work. In a statement issued to the local press, Kenin said some of her priorities are to “address our commuter parking shortage, create more comprehensive cell service in a sensible manner and keep our downtown vibrant.”

“I’ve studied up,” she said. “I’ve thoughtfully observed. I’ve listened to people both inside and outside of our local government.”

Kenin listed the subcommittees she’s worked on as a councilman and said she’s attended other meetings of municipal boards and commissions.

Government

Town Officials Seek Details on Nature Center’s Finances, Use of Buildings

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[Editor’s Note: After hearing concerns from someTown Building Evaluation and Use Committee members that their comments had been taken out of context, we added a full and unedited audio file from this portion of the public meeting to the top of this article.]

With an eye on prioritizing capital maintenance and spending, officials say they’re seeking detailed information from the New Canaan Nature Center about how the organization’s various programs use the town-owned buildings that form its campus. The Nature Center uses one set of books for its entire business–including financially successful enterprises such as camp and a popular nursery school—though it isn’t clear just now whether capital investments earmarked for the Oenoke Ridge Road campus are commensurate with those revenue-drivers, according to members of a committee that’s studying town-owned buildings throughout New Canaan. “What we are trying to do is find out whether there is an opportunity for the town to use resources better, and then make informed decisions about where we should do that,” Amy Murphy Carroll, co-chair of the Town Building Evaluation and Use Committee, said at the group’s most recent meeting. “So for instance, the gift shop—there is a revenue line for that of X amount—it’s really pretty minimal and there is lot of space for the gift shop,” Carroll said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. Appointed in February, the committee’s members also include Penny Young (co-chair), Ben Bilus (secretary), Neil Budnick, Bill Holmes, Christa Kenin and Martin Skrelunas.

Government

‘You Literally Just Salivate’: Officials Evaluating Town Buildings See Potential in Waveny House

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Known to generations of New Canaanites as the elegant host site of weddings, banquets and fundraisers, Waveny House also has largely untapped areas that could serve new uses, officials say. Recreation and public works officials have done a “phenomenal job” of clearing the 17,000-square-foot attic of post-prom props and other items that have collected there for years, according to Bill Holmes, a member of the Town Building Evaluation and Use Committee. “When we go up there, you literally just salivate,” Holmes said during the committee’s April 10 meeting, held at Town Hall. “The space is beautiful. There are skylights.”

Part of a two-person team studying the 1912-built town-owned building, together with committee co-chair Penny Young, Holmes added: “The notes we are making as we went through the basement, there are so many rooms with beautiful natural light from all the wells and depressions outside.

Government

Seeking Less Costly Option, Town Council Rejects $550,000 Renovation Project at Vine Cottage

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Saying they need to understand the building’s long-term purpose first and whether it could be passably restored (and legally occupied) for less money, members of New Canaan’s legislative body on Wednesday night unanimously rejected a proposal to renovate Vine Cottage for $550,000. The Town Council voted 10-0 against the bond issuance during its regular meeting. Councilman Christa Kenin said that though she appreciates the work that Architectural Preservation Studio, DPC put into a more comprehensive plan for the ca. 1860-built gabled structure, “I was a little surprised to see it on the agenda as a request for a bond.”

“It is a sweet house that needs a lot of work,” Kenin said, yet she’s a member of a recently appointed committee that’s been charged with making recommendations about town-owned buildings “and this is one of buildings that is at the top of our list to evaluate.”

“And I think even approving—whether it’s $550,000 or to come back to $100,000 before it falls to the ground—makes the assumption that we are going to hold onto this building, which may or may not be the case six months from now when we study the 44-plus buildings that the town is responsible for,” she said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. Ultimately, the Town Council charged New Canaan’s buildings superintendent with figuring out what would be the least costly project at Vine Cottage to make it inhabitable—by the town’s Human Services Department, its current occupant—for the next several months, until the Town Building Evaluation and Use Committee comes forward with a recommendation on what to do.