Around Town

‘We Like To Celebrate Everything’: Special Church at First Presbyterian

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Every Thursday for the past 29 years, Jassinia Mysogland has arrived at First Presbyterian Church on Oenoke Ridge Road for a unique experience featuring parties, crafts, snacks, music and most of all—friendship. Last week, Mysogland joined fellow members of a program called ‘Special Church’ in celebrating New Year’s and a birthday, as well as the return of Cathy Newman, a former co-leader visiting from California. Program director Nancy Reichart said with a smile, “We like to celebrate everything.”

Approaching its 30th anniversary this year, Special Church was founded by parents of special needs children and adults seeking an “alternative church experience,” Reichart said. With 16 members hailing from New Canaan and surrounding towns, Reichart calls First Presbyterian Church “the best place to be on a Thursday afternoon.”

Because all of its current members are Christians, Special Church is considered ecumenical, she said, though it absolutely would welcome and accommodate people of different faiths. Thursday’s 2.5-hour program got off to its typically measured start, with members trickling in to mingle, read aloud a “reading of the week,” and complete a New Year’s-themed craft.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The Planning & Zoning Commission during a special meeting on Monday night reviewed some 65 yet-to-be-released conditions that it is considering as part of an approval for the closely followed Merritt Village proposal. Though still in draft form and therefore not public, the approval P&Z discussed appears to land on 105 total units at the proposed development. The specter of an affordable housing application looms over the project, should property owner M2 Partners and the town fail to reach a compromise. During an interview after the P&Z meeting, New Canaan resident and would-be Merritt Village builder Arnold Karp said he and his partners “have sat through six months of hearings.”

“We went from 160 to 140 to 123 to 116 to get 105? That doesn’t sit that well with myself or my partners, because it’s way too arbitrary and capricious,” Karp told NewCanaanite.com.