Government

‘Very Poor Condition’: Playground Upgrades Sought for Public Parks

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Saying heavily used playground equipment at Dixon, Kiwanis and Mead Parks is old and in need of replacement, recreation officials are seeking $115,000 in taxpayer funds for next fiscal year. Some of the equipment is now 17 years old and the federal Consumer Protection Safety Commission has new standards regarding heights, surfaces, handicapped access and space between pieces, Recreation Director Steve Benko said Friday while presenting his department’s operating and capital budget requests for next fiscal year to the Board of Selectmen. “Stuff is worn out, things are beyond maintenance, you have metal pipes sticking out, paint is chipping off and they’re rusting—I think it’s time to start looking at replacing some of this equipment,” Benko said at the meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department. “It gets a lot of use.”

The Rec Department in the spring applied for $103,750 in STEAP grant funds from the state—it didn’t come through. The breakdown of funds sought for next fiscal year is as follows:

Ed Dixon Park: $12,500
Kiwanis Park: $52,500
Mead Park: $50,000

Mead “probably gets the most use,” Benko said. “Mead park is packed every single day,” he said.

News

Letter: Demand for Outback Programs and Space Continue to Grow

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In 2013-2014, the center had 8,180 visits to the facility by students and community members representing an overall 30% increase in usage from the prior year. The $1.5 million facility was built in 2001 by parents and community members, and is in excellent condition, with two levels plus a loft area, a commercial grade kitchen and a recording studio. This past year, by evidence of demand and participation, there has been a shift towards a community center model. Programming for middle and high school students has become much more varied programs rather than simply having open hours for social interaction. This shift was in response to the changing needs of today’s youth who typically have limited free time but are interested in being engaged in healthy, fun or enriching options after school or in social interactions on a weekend night.

Government

Town Seeks Details from Outback as Teen Center’s Role Grows Murky

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Facing a lack of demand and operating funds, Outback Teen Center needs a “critical intervention” from the town in order to continue, officials said Wednesday. Since the nonprofit teen center opened behind Town Hall in April 2001, the landscape of youth services in town has changed dramatically, with more groups—including churches, schools and organizations such as the YMCA—expanding their offerings, officials said during a regular Board of Selectmen meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department. Funding sources such as corporate giving no longer are available in the numbers they once were, officials have said, and energy costs are high at the cavernous Outback building. Addressing Outback Board of Directors President Sangeeta Appel and seeking to put into plain language the nonprofit organization’s position, First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said: “You would like to see a partnership with town, you still have an active board, you are still raising money and you have a mission. But what you are saying is that without some critical intervention or support from the town, that there is a chance that the Teen Center may not be here.

News

NCHS Squash Team Funding Nixed as Board of Ed Proposes 4.87% Spending Increase

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Saying the district should prioritize the hiring of additional classroom teachers and hold off on funding varsity club sports until there’s a well-defined policy in place for doing so, the Board of Education on Monday proposed a 2015-16 operating budget that includes no money for the New Canaan High School Squash Team. The $84,809,121 proposed operating budget is the major driver of the spending on the public schools, which in turn drives about two-thirds of all town spending. The school board said it’s deferring about $255,000 in spending on educators such as a part-time writing teacher at West School, student deans at the elementary schools and three general education teaching assistants. For Board of Ed Secretary Dionna Carlson, while increased participation in extracurricular activities such as squash is a “wonderful” goal, “I think we need to prioritize where the dollars are, and I would probably say I would prefer to see that $20,000 spent on a writing specialist right now.”

“And I think maybe we are putting cart the before the horse, and maybe we should have a policy in place of how we can handle these extracurricular activities and then we fund them—instead of putting a pool there without a policy that we are reviewing as a board,” Carlson said at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “I think we have bigger things that we are not funding this year which are disappointing, I am sure, to many parents in the district.

News

Officials: Saxe Needs Not Just Auditorium Overhaul, But Also Arts Space Expansion—Total Cost $10.1 Million

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Even an estimated $5.3 million renovation of the Saxe Middle School auditorium won’t accommodate a burgeoning student population, meet visual and performing arts space needs and bring much-needed flexibility to classroom scheduling, according to town officials overseeing a renovation of the facility. Creating sufficient storage and practice and classroom space for an increasingly large student body will require a footprint expansion of about 6,200 square feet off of the building’s south side—a project whose early estimate comes in at about $10.1 million, an owner’s rep for the project said at the Board of Education meeting Monday. The estimate is conservative, said Gene Torone, executive vice president of construction services as Glastonbury-based S/L/A/M Collaborative. Though some money may be saved in lower-cost materials, the figure doesn’t include removal of contaminants that officials expect to find as more testing is done on the auditorium, which is original to the 1957 building. “There is evidence of some [hazardous materials],” Torone said at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School.