Eric Thunem

Town Council Committee Discusses Next Steps Regarding Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers

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Town officials say they need time to evaluate the merits of a citizen-led campaign to reduce the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in New Canaan. After receiving dozens of letters themselves and seeing similar ones in local news—calling for a reduction for reasons of noise, public health and environmental issues—members of New Canaan’s legislative body are calling for a comprehensive analysis before recommending any change to local ordinances. During a meeting last week of the Town Council’s Bylaws and Ordinance Committee, member Eric Thunem said: “I think we need to hear from a lot more people before we vote on an ordinance that could impact so many more things than just the noise in my backyard. There are a lot of implications that would restrict and change the economics of landscaping.”

Committee members during a June 4 meeting spent nearly one hour discussing the issue. One Committee member, Kimberly Norton, said she was “on board with moving ahead with [restrictions].”

“I think we’ve had an outpouring of letters from the public…there’s lots of interest in the issue, and I think it behooves us to take it forward,” Norton said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Dionna Carlson

Election 2023: Republican Candidates for First Selectman Debate West School Cell Tower Plan [UPDATED]

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[Note: This article has been updated with a comment from St. Luke’s School.]

Bringing back a proposal to erect a cell tower behind West School when it was “roundly criticized by residents and parents” more than five years ago is “an unbelievably bad waste of time, money and effort,” according to one Republican candidate for New Canaan’s highest elected office. There are alternative technologies such as satellite and distributed antenna systems or “DAS,” and public safety has already been addressed because all elementary schools have antenna systems, Dionna Carlson said during a GOP debate last week. “So if there’s an emergency at West School or in the West School area, they can connect to our emergency service providers,” Carlson said at the Republican Town Committee’s July 18 debate, held at the Carriage Barn Arts Center. “I was on the Board of Education when those antennas were put up and redone,” she continued.

Dionna Carlson

Election 2023: Republican Candidates for First Selectman Debate Affordable Housing Strategies

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New Canaan missed out on a chance to find an additional four years of relief from a state affordable housing law because the town wasn’t prepared, according to one Republican seeking party backing for the municipality’s highest elected office. 

The town’s moratorium under the widely discussed law known by its statute number, 8-30g, “lapsed” because “frankly, I don’t think we were prepared to file that moratorium, which I’m really concerned about,” Kimberly Norton said during a debate with fellow GOP first selectman candidates Dionna Carlson and incumbent Kevin Moynihan last week. “It’s a very long process,” Norton continued at the July 18 debate, organized and moderated by the Republican Town Committee and held at Carriage Barn Arts Center. “It could have been ready to go. It could have been in the pipeline.”

Though the press was barred from attending the debate, a video of the first selectman debate was posted Thursday to YouTube. In addition to affordable housing, topics included dysfunction on the Board of Selectmen and improving cell service in New Canaan.

Opinion

Election 2023: Letters of Endorsement

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NewCanaanite.com received the following letter(s) ahead of the July 25 Republican caucus. Please send letters to editor@newcanaanite.com to have them published here. We will not publish caucus endorsements after July 11. 

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Anyone who has participated in an organized setting understands the cliché “there is no ‘I’ in team.” Unfortunately, the current 1st Selectman is unaware that he is a part of a team that includes New Canaan residents. Instead, he often establishes a personal agenda that is unsupported by his constituents. The most glaring example of this is his thoughtless insistence on erecting large monopine cell towers on public property. 

Beginning in 2017, several public hearings were conducted to convince our residents these cell towers were needed at our schools and parks.

Government

‘People Are Really Upset About This’: Town Council Pushes Back on Snub of VFW’s Funding Request

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Members of the Town Council are pushing back on decisions made by other municipal bodies that deny a request from local veterans for funding through the American Rescue Plan Act. The Boards of Selectmen and Finance both voted in support of a $582,600 ARPA package for nonprofit organizations that left out a $15,000 request from the local VFW. During their own July 20 meeting, Town Councilmen tried to get answers as to why the snub occurred and to urge the selectmen and finance board to fill the funding request. “If it wasn’t for our veterans this town would not exist,” Councilman Kimberly Norton said during the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “So I think it’s of paramount importance that we take this seriously, and all of these people are volunteers that volunteered their service to our country, and then volunteered in our parade, and mapping the graves of the veterans in the cemetery.