Government

Town Approves Contracts for Demo of ‘Audubon House’ at Nature Center

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Town officials this week approved two contracts for the demolition of a long-disused town-owned building at the New Canaan Nature Center. The “Audubon House” is a deteriorating 15-by-30-foot structure located across from the Oenoke Ridge nonprofit organization’s Visitor Center and it’s “at the end of its usable life and is being removed so as not to create a hazardous condition,” according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. “We have completed the required ‘alternative work practice plan’ and it’s been filed and approved with the Connecticut DPH [Department of Public Health] because there’s hazardous materials in the building,” Zagarenski told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held Tuesday in Town Hall and via videoconference. First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of contracts with Stamford Wrecking ($26,400) and Darien Electric ($3,000). The second contract is to “go in and just safe off the electrical at the source,” Zagarenski said.

Government

‘This Is a Big Milestone’: NCPD To Move Back into South Avenue HQ in June

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The New Canaan Police Department is expected to move back into its permanent home on South Avenue during the first week of June following a widely anticipated renovation and expansion, about six months ahead of schedule, officials say. The $20 million renovation of the police station at 174 South Ave.—about $29 million with soft costs such as insurance and creating a temporary police headquarters downtown—long has been pegged to wrap up around Thanksgiving 2025. Yet the project, which includes a complete gut and renovation of the existing 1927-built police station—the original New Canaan High School—with an addition of a new sallyport at the southeastern corner of the building, is now on track for NCPD to move back in June 3, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Pubilc Works. In requesting about $30,000 from the Board of Selectmen to move dispatch consoles and radio equipment out of the temporary police station downtown, Zagarenski said Tuesday, “This is the last thing we have to do before the PD moves back to 174 South Avenue.”

“This is a big milestone for the project,” he told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Town officials had discussed the need to renovate the Police Department for many years.

Government

Town Seeks Credits for EV and CHP Initiatives 

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The town is preparing to spend $35,000 with Deloitte Global to prepare documents to receive government credits and incentives related to the municipality’s electric vehicle and combined heat-and-power initiatives. 

The town stands to get back $100,000 to $131,000 for CHP initiatives and $7,500 per EV, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. Deloitte “will prepare and help submit under the Internal Revenue Code, Section 48, for an investment tax credit for the CHP at Lapham [Community Center],” Zagarenski told the Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting Tuesday, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. He continued: “This requires them basically to submit a zero dollar tax return on behalf of the town, and then we get a credit against that for a certain percentage of what we spent on the CHP units. And then there’s a second effort that they will actually submit for commercial clean vehicle credits for our fleet of EVs. And these are just another incentive that’s out there that they’ll help us to obtain.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of the contract.

Government

Town To Impose Fee for EV Charging Station Use in Town Hall Lot

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Town officials last week approved a fee of 53 cents per kilowatt hour for the electric vehicle or ‘EV’ charging stations in the Town Hall parking lot. The figure is expected to cover the cost of electricity for the town at the stations, according to Public Works Senior Engineer Joe Zagarenski. The Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting also approved what Zagarenski called a “parking fee equivalent” of $1.25 per hour. “I say ‘equivalent’ because it’s calculated based on a charge rate of 7.2 kilowatts per hour divided by $1.25 an hour,” he said during the Board’s regular meeting, held Nov. 4 at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Government

Town Officials Approve Request To Demo ‘Audubon House’ at Nature Center

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. Town officials last week approved a request to demolish a long-disused town-owned building at the New Canaan Nature Center. During the Aug. 6 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, officials discussed the future of the “Audubon House,” a deteriorating 15-by-30-foot structure located across from the Oenoke Ridge nonprofit organization’s Visitor Center. 

Department of Public Works Senior Engineer Joe Zagarenski asked the Board of Selectmen for authorization to enter into a contract with Fuss & O’Neill, a civil and environmental engineering company. 

The contract, in the amount of $4,355 plus a contingency of $800 (a total of $5,155), is required to perform the demolition of the rectangular structure, Zagarenski told the Board at its regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

Director of Public Works Tiger Mann said the cost is funded in the fiscal year 2024-25 budget in a $50,000 line item. The building originally served as a laundry facility for the late Susan Dwight Bliss, a New Canaan resident and philanthropist.