Government

Town Approves Two Contracts To Ready Temporary Police Department HQ Downtown

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The Board of Selectmen last week approved a pair of contracts totaling about $73,000 as the town prepares to move the New Canaan Police Department into a leased building downtown while the agency’s headquarters on South Avenue undergoes a widely anticipated renovation. The Board of Education is expected to vacate its longtime home at 39 Locust Ave. on Aug. 24, and at that point the town will start outfitting the space to make it ready for NCPD, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. (The Board of Ed is moving into a newly acquired town building at 220 Elm St.)

“We have about 12 weeks to fit out the space to make it ready for the Police Department to move in,” Zagarenski said during the selectmen’s May 2 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Board of Selectmen

Upper Ponus Ridge To Close from July to November for Bridge Construction 

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Ponus Ridge will be closed north of the Greenley Road intersection from July through November for a bridge replacement project, officials say. The Board of Selectmen last week approved about $1.4 million in contracts—80% of which is to be paid by the federal government—for work in constructing and inspecting the Ponus Ridge Bridge at Collins Pond. According to town Senior Engineer Joe Zagarenski, the official detour routes will be Greenley to West Road south of the work, and Dan’s Highway to West Road to the north. “That is official route,” Zagarenski told the selectmen during their regular meeting, held May 2 at Town Hall and via videoconference. “People are going to find other routes.”

Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams and First Selectman Kevin Moynihan voted 3-0 in favor of a $1,125,937 contract with NJR Construction and $272,950 contract with M&J Engineering.

Government

Town To Have 17 Small Bridges, Culverts Inspected Under $75,000 Contract

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Town officials last week approved a $75,000 contract with a Newington-based civil engineering firm to inspect 17 small bridges and culverts in New Canaan. It’s been nearly 30 years since bridges smaller than 20 feet underwent a full inspection by the state Department of Transportation, though they’ve undergone screenings to rule out major problems, according to town Senior Engineer Joe Zagarenski. “Culverts have older or nonexistent data, so the intent of these inspections is to gather the data on these structures, identify any deficiencies and to develop a repair/maintenance plan with costs,” Zagarenski told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held March 7 at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

The purpose of the new contract with WMC Consulting Engineers is “identifying the small culverts” around town so municipal officials know which ones “need a little bit of work and a little more attention,” he said. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted 3-0 in favor of the contract. WMC “has recently designed and provided construction inspection services with the West Road bridge and Wastewater Treatment Plant bridge, and we’ve been very happy with their performance,” Zagarenski said.

Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Approve Contract for Design of ‘Town Hall-Style’ Project at New Canaan Police Station

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The Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting approved a $67,500 contract with a Berlin-based architectural firm to provide a wide range of services in preparation for a widely anticipated renovation of the New Canaan Police Department. The appointed Police Department Building Committee has proposed retaining the historic architecture of the 1927-built red brick building at 174 South Ave. (originally built as the first New Canaan High School) while fully renovating it—and also replacing the addition on the rear of the structure with a new one. Officials have referred to the project as the renovate-as-new or “Town Hall option,” as a similar project had been done about seven years ago with the expansion and renovation there. The firm, Jacunski Humes Architects, will provide architectural, interior, civil engineering, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, information technology, site planning and landscape design, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works.

Board of Selectmen

Town Approves Contract for Schematic Designs of Renovated Police Station

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The Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting approved a $12,000 lump sum payment for a New Britain-based architecture firm to come up with schematic designs for a renovated New Canaan Police Department building. 

The “renovate-as-new” NCPD project design from Kaestle Boos Associates Inc. at the existing South Avenue site “will include an overall site plan, floor plans, elevations for all facades, a 3D fly-around,” according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the New Canaan Department of Public Works. “They will also present these findings to the Police Department Building Committee,” Zagarenski told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held April 5 at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“Prior to requesting final proposals for architectural services for the PD building, the Building Committee would like to have the opportunity to see what Kaestle Boos’s approach would be to the project,” Zagarenski said. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted 3-0 in favor of the $12,000 contract. Moynihan, after pushing for an alternative site for years, conceded during a March 31 special meeting of the Building Committee that the future NCPD will remain at 174 South Ave., saying, “The town leaders have decided that there’s not an appetite to pursue an alternative location.”

Referring to a news item that appeared the same day on this site, Moynihan said during the April 5 meeting, “Michael Dinan referred to it as ‘conceding’ the point—but the fact of the matter is my preference all along has been to do a new building somewhere.”

“We have not been able to find a location somewhere for a new building,” he continued. “We essentially are going to build a new building within the structure on South Avenue.