Government

GOP Candidates For Town Council Spar Over Cell Service, Transparency During Debate

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Five of six Republican candidates seeking seats on the Town Council in the upcoming November municipal elections debated a range of topics—from cell towers to land acquisition to transparency in local government—during a lively and well-attended debate hosted by the Republican Town Committee at Town Hall last week. Four Republican seats on the Town Council are up for grabs in the upcoming fall election. The six candidates seeking nomination from town Republicans in the upcoming caucus, to be held July 18, include incumbents John Engel and Penny Young, as well as Roy Abramowitz, Tom Butterworth, Mike Mauro and Richard Townsend. Engel was unable to attend the debate. Recently, the town Utilities Commission, which is searching for ways to improve cell service in town, issued a report proposing that cell towers be erected in Irwin Park and near West School.

News

Letter: One Realtor on Grace Farms as a Property Value-Enhancing New Canaan Asset

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Dear Editor:

I am a Realtor in New Canaan. Last year I sold a nearly $4 million house across the street from Grace Farms. The buyers came to Grace Farms immediately after looking at the house, were served tea in the teahouse, and decided that Grace Farms is the perfect neighbor and they bought the house. Just how extraordinary is that? It shouldn’t be. But, this house teaches us a useful lesson about property values in New Canaan.

Government

RTC Announces Two Republican Debates Ahead of July 18 Caucus; First One Next Week

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The New Canaan Republican Town Committee on Monday announced that the organization is sponsoring a pair of debates ahead of the party’s July 18 caucus—a widely anticipated day that will see candidates in three contested races seek party backing. Featuring all Republican candidates running in contested races for town government, the first debate is to be held at 7 p.m. next Tuesday, June 27 in the large meeting room at Town Hall, the RTC said in a press release. The second will be held July 12, also at Town Hall. Those running include:

First Selectman

Cristina A. Ross
Rob Mallozzi
Kevin Moynihan

Selectman

Christa Kenin
Nick Williams

Town Council (four seats open)

Roy Abramowitz
Tom Butterworth
John Engel
Mike Mauro
Richard Townsend
Penny Young

NewCanaanite.com and the New Canaan Advertiser are supporting the RTC debates. The debates will be broadcast by NCTV Channel 79, according to the RTC.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The gallery for this week’s “Did You Hear … ?” features interior photos from rental units at the newly built mixed-use building at 16 Cross St. in New Canaan, “The Crossing.”

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The Town Council on Wednesday night voted 12-0 in favor of an operating budget of $148,136,106 for fiscal year 2018. The overall figure and amount allocated to the Board of Education ($87,618,405) are the same as had been approved by the Board of Finance. The schools are seeing an approximately 1.6 percent year-over-year increase, while the overall operating budget is going up 2.6 percent.

Government

‘Maybe There Is a Better Area’: Neighbors Voice Concerns about Prospect of Cell Towers at Irwin Park, West School

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Kevin Clark, a resident of Wahackme Road, built his house 20 years ago, past the footpath that loops around the back of a 36-acre parcel known to New Canaanites today as Irwin Park. When locals debated the acquisition of that parcel as public land, Clark recalled, he sided with those in favor of the purchase “because [former First Selectman] Judy Neville and the Town Council assured us that it would be set aside as beautiful parkland and preserve the integrity of the landscape and preserve the integrity of the quiet residential community that has existed there for 100 years.”

Faced now with the prospect of a 110-foot cell tower near the park’s southwest corner—a draft plan whose development has been overseen by the New Canaan Utilities Commission—Clark said he is concerned that those assurances had been hollow. “I do not think any of you would want an 11-story tower in your backyard,” Clark told members of the Utilities Commission during their regular meeting, held at Town Hall. “Where it is sited right now, I will open my shade in the morning when I wake up in my bedroom and I will see the tower. It is just not the way a town like New Canaan should act—in a responsible way for its citizens.