Government

Town to State: We’ll Fix Dangerous Sight Line Problem on 123 If You Won’t

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Saying the state is not responding to New Canaan’s requests to improve sight lines along a stretch of Route 123 that’s seeing a high number of car crashes, town officials are preparing to do the necessary work themselves. 

Following two serious crashes at Smith Ridge and Michigan Roads earlier this year, traffic officials requested that the Connecticut Department of Transportation conduct a study of the area. Two months later, two people were taken to the hospital following another major collision there. Now, Public Works Director Tiger Mann said he intends to pursue a permit from the DOT to work in its right-of-way in the state road in order to remove a boulder overgrown with trees that limits sight lines for motorists. The outcropping is located on the southeast corner of the intersection. “We are getting to the point where we are just going to have to take action on our own,” Mann said during a Sept.

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Podcast: New Canaan Police Back-To-School Traffic Enforcement

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free weekly podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to New Canaan Police Deputy Chief John DiFederico about the department’s efforts to intensify enforcement of traffic violations near schools, which open next Thursday. This week’s podcast is sponsored by Fresh Green Light, reinventing driver’s ed in New Canaan. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

Government

Traffic Calming: Town Considers ‘Rumble Strips’ To Alert Inattentive Motorists

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Town officials are considering whether to place raised strips along the centerlines of some New Canaan roads in order to warn inattentive drivers drifting toward oncoming traffic lanes. The state would need to sign off on a proposal from New Canaan to install “rumble strips” along specific stretches of Routes 106, 123 and 124, according to members of the Traffic Calming Work Group. The administrative team—which includes members of the Police, Public Works, Fire and Parking Departments—fields requests for traffic calming in New Canaan and makes recommendations to the town’s local traffic authority, the Police Commission. Rumble strips derive their name from the alarming sensation of driving over them, and experts say they can reduce the number of crashes that result from motorist inattention. Local drivers are already familiar with rumble strips, which are installed along edge lines of the Merritt Parkway and Interstate 95.

News

New Canaan Police Step Up Efforts To Serve, Clear Outstanding Arrest Warrants

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New Canaan Police said Monday night that they’re bolstering efforts to serve department- and court-issued arrest warrants for people who have been cited for infractions or charged with crimes but have not been immediately reachable by authorities. As part of the department’s new warrant service initiative, older warrants for people who have been ticketed but likely will never be reachable—for example, those who travel to Connecticut seasonally from out-of-state to solicit door-to-door, incurring infraction summonses—will be “vacated,” according to Police Capt. John DiFederico. The department following a recent internal accounting found that it has about 117 such court-issued warrants—known as ‘PRAWN’ or paperless re-arrest warrants, issued when people fail to pay or plead to a ticket, DiFederico said at the Police Commission’s regular monthly meeting, held at Town Hall. Asked by commissioner Paul Foley whether warrants tied to past arrests will be prioritized based on severity, DiFederico said that police are trying to take care of those issued for felony-level offenses. They include outstanding warrants for first-degree failure to appear for 37-year-old Christian “Chris” Hernan Cruz, originally charged in 2012 with first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny, as well as third-degree forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery.

Business

‘This Is Ridiculous’: Town Officials Urge Auto Shop Owner To Be Reasonable in Parking Vehicles Along Main Street

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Members of the volunteer group that oversees on-street parking in New Canaan are urging the owner of a downtown business to work with them or risk exacerbating an emotionally charged dispute and potentially dangerous situation. The Police Commission already has spent more time on traffic and safety concerns near AC Auto Body than it has on hiring issues, according to commissioner Paul Foley. “This is ridiculous and it is still not solved,” Foley said at the start of the commission’s regular meeting, held Wednesday in the training room at the New Canaan Police Department. “It would be resolved if this individual would perform in a neighborhood way.”

Turning to members of NCPD that are working with both AC Auto Body owner Anthony Ceraso and neighbors who say the way he parks customers and shop vehicles blocks sight lines, Foley added: “You want to convey that to [Ceraso]? That we are concerned again about this action that he continues to do and if there isn’t any cleanup, especially now that snow coming and all the other stuff, that we will go to [Planning & Zoning].