Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The bagels are back in town: Upper Crust Bakery & Café opens Thursday morning in the former Brueggers space on South Avenue downtown. ***

Currently, 843 people belong to Spencer’s Run, New Canaan’s dog park at Waveny, and slightly more than half of those are nonresidents, Parks & Recreation Commissioner Rona Siegel reported on Wednesday night during the commission’s regular meeting. ***

The Board of Selectmen by a 2-0 vote Tuesday approved a $938,000 contract with FGB Construction to repave and otherwise improve the following town roads (First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectman Kit Devereaux cast votes, as Selectman Nick Williams was absent):

Huckleberry Road from Valley Road to the town line
Jonathan Road
Mill Road
Pepper Lane
Sagamore Trail
Siwanoy Lane
Summer Street from Lakeview to East Avenue and from Cross Street to Locust Avenue
Turning Mill Lane

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The photo gallery above features the newest aerial photos of the sports fields and track at New Canaan High School. ***

Town officials broke ground with Eversource on Wednesday for the company’s $25 million natural gas project. It will start with the installation of 4.7 miles of underground pipeline, making the fuel available to more than 500 homes and businesses.

Around Town

Eversource: New Canaan Residents Can Influence Natural Gas Expansion Plan In Out Years

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Following an initial roll-out of natural gas in New Canaan through 2020—a three-phase project starting next year that will see a trunk line come into town from Stamford, up South Avenue to the business district and then out to East School, with nearby residences along the way—property owners themselves can influence just where the utility brings natural gas, officials say. For Eversource—at least through 2024, under a state-backed expansion plan—the question of where in New Canaan the gas lines will go is in some ways a math equation, according to John Ferrelli, the company’s Waterbury-based supervisor of business account services: The cost of installation must be offset by the load delivered. “Customer demand will dictate the path of opportunity beyond the initial outline, as well as new construction and conversions,” Ferrelli told members of the Town Council at their regular meeting. “Future growth potential will be driven by customer interest, customer demand,” Ferrelli said at the July 19 meeting, held at Town Hall. “And that’s where the company will look to expand [starting in 2020].

Government

Selectman Votes Against Natural Gas Deal, Citing Environmentalist Concerns

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Describing herself as a strong environmentalist, Selectman Beth Jones on Tuesday declined to support the town’s long-awaited agreement with the utility company to bring natural gas to New Canaan. Casting a lone dissenting vote on the Board of Selectmen and saying the town should invest instead in renewable energy, Jones during the group’s regular meeting said she was “worried for the communities where the fracking is happening.”

“You can have a ‘NIMBY’ attitude about it and say it won’t affect us in New Canaan, but it affects others,” Jones said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. She referred to a plan that will bring natural gas from Route 106 in Stamford up through South Avenue. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi and Selectman Nick Williams voted in favor of the approval. According to Jones, both Maryland and New York have banned fracking, due in part to debates over how to dispose of waste.

News

Letter: Kevin Moynihan Facilitated Natural Gas Agreement with Eversource

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Being part of commercial interests that see clear and long term benefits to bringing natural gas to town, I know firsthand the influence Kevin Moynihan had in facilitating a deal with Eversource with the town of New Canaan. There is now a pending deal and much of that is due to the efforts of Kevin Moynihan. I know this because I was part of that effort in meetings with Eversource this year. Kevin’s focus and leadership, along with his pragmatic, no-nonsense approach is exactly what we need in our town’s leadership and this is why I am supporting Kevin Moynihan for first selectman. While I do not know all of the details of the previous deal with Eversource and why that fell apart, what I do know is that virtually every other town in Connecticut, including surrounding ones, somehow managed to work out a deal.

Government

Town, Eversource To Ink Deal Bringing Natural Gas to New Canaan Starting Next Year

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The town’s highest elected official on Monday night said he’s poised to sign an agreement that will bring natural gas to New Canaan public buildings, businesses and some homes, signaling the introduction in earnest of a widely anticipated energy source following years of stop-and-go efforts. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi and representatives from Eversource unveiled a plan to bring a 4.7 mile “trunk line” up Route 106 from Stamford to serve New Canaan High School, South School, Saxe Middle School, the YMCA and Waveny Care Center, as well as East School, in 2018. After that, Eversource’s program manager for gas expansions, Chris Luca, told members of the Utilities Commission at their regular meeting, the company in 2019 will lay an additional five miles of lines to bring natural gas to residences along the South Avenue corridor, from Farm Road toward the downtown. Additionally, Eversource will offer natural gas to residences where it makes sense along the route to East School—the proposed route calls for a line to run down Harrison and then up Main and along Lakeview to the school. And then in 2020, the natural gas line build-out will come to the business district, Luca said.