Board of Selectmen

Town Approves Easement Agreement with Property Developer

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Town officials on Tuesday approved an agreement with a private property developer that will give the public access to a 5-foot-wide sidewalk that will front townhouses planned for Forest Street just north of Locust Avenue. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of an easement agreement with 42 Forest Street LLC, which is owned by Darien-based Silver Heights Development. The real estate investment and development company is creating a new, mixed-use building and adjoining row of townhouses at the northwest corner of Forest Street and Locust Avenue. Located next to the Post Office, it’s the former site of a brick Bank of America building. 

Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the selectmen at their regular meeting that the town and property owner “share a property line, so a portion of the project will have a sidewalk that will be on their property and then we will have a sidewalk on our property, so we are looking for a right or easement from 42 Forest Street [LLC] to have the public basically use the entire width of that sidewalk.”

“So they are granting us an easement to utilize that portion of their property for our public to walk back and forth,” Mann said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “They will take care of the property.

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Officials Approve Contract for Design of New Sidewalk at Talmadge Hill

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a contract with a Shelton-based engineering firm to survey and design a new sidewalk at Talmadge Hill Train Station. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 at its regular meeting in favor of the $15,900 contract with Tighe & Bond. 

The sidewalk will run along the north side of Talmadge Hill Road, from the upper parking lots down the hill past the train stop to Route 106, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The construction work itself—involving the replacement of an existing sidewalk and an extension—will be paid for through a state Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program or ‘LOTCIP’ grant, Mann told the selectmen at their meeting, held in Town Hall. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, participating in the meeting by phone, said the LOTCIP funds had been allocated four years ago “and we are just trying to keep them.”

“They are being directed to three different transpiration-related projects for sidewalks, and this is one of them,” Moynihan said. The others are for sidewalks on Park Street and Richmond Hill Road, officials said.

Government

Budget Cuts: Town To Reduce Funding for Landscaping Work Around Several Public Buildings

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Town officials are looking to cut back on landscaping work around a handful of public buildings, including Vine Cottage, Powerhouse Theater, Carriage Barn Arts Center, Saxe Middle School and New Canaan High School. The proposed budget for next fiscal year removes about $15,000 paid annually to outside contractors in recent years for more frequent weeding and mulching that the Parks & Recreation Commission had pushed for, including during “spring cleanups.”

John Howe, parks superintendent in the Department of Public Works, told members of the Commission during their Jan. 8 meeting, “The hard part I see is that we have been able to have these buildings look great throughout the year.”

“And we are kind of going backwards,” he said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “Are we in better shape now than we were five years ago? Yes, by a long shot.”

The cutbacks come as the Board of Finance guides municipal departments to reduce operating costs by 2%.

Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Vote 3-0 To Recommend Capital Plan with $10 Million for Library, Police Station Projects

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voted unanimously to recommend a Five-Year Capital Plan that includes earmarks of $10 million for the New Canaan Library’s rebuilding project and $10 million for a long-discussed renovation of the New Canaan Police Department. 

The Capital Plan—a fluid planning document that’s required by the Town Charter—calls for four $2.5 million payments to the library starting next fiscal year, and $5 million in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 for the police station. The selectmen’s 3-0 vote in favor of the Capital Plan does not amount to an appropriation—an allocation of taxpayer funds toward either project would require public hearings with multiple appointed and elected bodies. The document now moves to the Board of Finance. 

Officials representing the library and NCPD both have described their buildings as inefficient and limiting, with aging physical plants that haven’t undergone substantial upgrades in decades. 

The Police Department renovation “would be two-year project and we anticipate a year of planning,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said. He voted in favor of recommending the Capital Plan, as did Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams.

Williams said all the selectmen agree “that the library should be fully funded.”

“Yes, it’s a lot of money, it’s $10 million over four years but it’s one for two,” Williams said. “The public-private partnership is putting in $20 million from private money, and 20 plus 10 is 30, so it’s a one for two and it’s something I am very supportive of.”

Devereaux said, “Although I do support the capital expenditure, the idea of a wrecking ball going at the facade of the old part of the library, that thought breaks my heart.

Government

Selectmen Restore Placeholder for Kiwanis Park Funding; Board of Finance Decision Looms

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday proposed a spending plan for next fiscal year that restores funding to operate Kiwanis Park, though the future of the Old Norwalk Road facility remains uncertain. The selectmen voted 3-0 to pass along to the Board of Finance an overall operating budget of about $153.6 million, representing a year-over-year spending increase of 1.1%. The figure includes Board of Education spending. In a budget season that has seen the finance board call for an operating reduction of 2% in municipal departments, an initial draft proposed spending plan before the selectmen had essentially de-commissioned Kiwanis Park by removing funding for it. Yet Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams during the Board’s regular meeting at Town Hall pushed to have $47,000 restored to Kiwanis so that recreation officials have a chance to reinvigorate the park under a reduced-hours schedule next summer.