Government

Town To Install ‘Mini-Roundabout’ at Conrad and Whiffle Tree

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Facing traffic safety concerns, officials last week approved a $22,000 with a New Haven-based traffic consultant to design a “mini-roundabout” in the “South of the Y” neighborhood. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 during its Sept. 5 meeting to approve the contract with Hardesty & Hanover to design the traffic-calming measure at the intersection of Conrad Road and Whiffle Tree Lane. 

The town has been “reviewing this area for quite some time,” Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“We have increased volume coming through, especially when the Merritt Parkway is closed,” Mann said. 

He continued, “And then we have people that Waze will tell them that if they stay on Gerdes, it’ll take them a minute longer. So they’ll shoot down Conrad, try to come up and beat the light at South and Gerdes. Subsequent to that, we have another proposal from Hardesty & Hanover to look at the South and Gerdes light, since we’ve asked the DOT [Connecticut Department of Transportation] probably four or five times to look at it, and they say that there’s no problem with the timing.

Around Town

New Canaan Marks 9/11 Anniversary at Town Hall Ceremony

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For New Canaan Police Chief John DiFederico, 9/11 is a solemn day of remembrance and contemplation. On Sept. 11, 2001, “the world was forever altered,” DiFederico said Monday from a podium at the front steps of Town Hall. “What seemed like an ordinary work day for many, turned into one of the most tragic and horrifying days in modern history,” he told more than 50 people gathered on the front lawn on an overcast, muggy morning for New Canaan’s annual 9/11 ceremony. 

“Nearly 3, 000 innocent people lost their lives in a series of devastating attacks,” DiFederico continued. “Those acts of terror did not discriminate.

Government

‘I Haven’t Talked to This Guy in Months’: Gulf Station Owner Denies Moynihan’s Claim of ‘Developments’ in Acquisition Talks

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Once again, the owner of the Gulf Station downtown is denying First Selectman Kevin Moynihan’s claims that there’s movement on plans for the town to acquire the property. During Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, Selectman Kathleen Corbet asked Moynihan for an update on the Gulf Station. 

In response, Moynihan said, “I don’t want to talk about that in public, that’s a real estate transaction.”

When Corbet asked for an update in two weeks’ time, Moynihan said, “Yes, there will be developments by then.”

Yet when asked about it, Lenny Fugaro, co-owner of the gas station and repair shop at 36 South Ave., said he has no idea what Moynihan is talking about. “I don’t know what he’s doing because I haven’t heard from anybody, so there’s nothing going on on my end,” Fugaro told NewCanaanite.com. “I just can’t explain what’s going on. I know they want to buy the property.

Government

Police Station Renovation: GMP for Construction Set at $20 Million

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved an amendment to the town’s contract with the construction manager of the New Canaan Police Department renovation that sets the guaranteed maximum price or “GMP” of the project at $20,235,000. 

Another $5 million has been budgeted for soft costs, with about $2 million each for a temporary police headquarters downtown during the renovation and contingencies, bringing the overall cost of the project to about $29 million, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. The total represents the same figure that members of the Police Department Building Committee presented to town funding bodies in July, Zagarenski told the selectmen during their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“It’s the same project, it’s just further developed and competitively bid now,” Zagarenski said. The appointed Committee has put forth a project to retain 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. The project also will see the addition on the rear of the structure replaced with a new one for parking and with a sallyport and jail cells. Officials have referred to the project as the renovate-as-new or “Town Hall option,” as a similar project had been done about eight years ago with the expansion and renovation there. 

Officials have said the project could start around Thanksgiving of this year and finish in the fall of 2025.

Government

Selectmen Approve $33,000 Contract To Make 106-Carter-Canoe Hill Intersection Safer

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Town officials this week approved a $33,000 contract with a traffic consultant in order to design a new, safer plan for a harrowing intersection in New Canaan. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 during its regular meeting Tuesday to approve the contract with New Haven-based Hardesty & Hanover to create a long-term solution for the intersection of Route 106, Carter Street and Canoe Hill Road. The solution is expected to “provide us with better sight lines and safe turning lanes,” Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the selectmen during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Documents provided in the public packet for the meeting show that motorists traveling toward Route 106 on Carter Street would have an option to turn more squarely to the state road in order to gain a better sight line to enter the traffic flow and get into position to turn left onto Canoe Hill. “So as you’re coming up to Carter and Canoe, you would turn, have an area of refuge, and then be able to make the [left] turn [onto Canoe Hill],” Mann said.