Board of Selectmen

Three Crosswalks on Heritage Hill Road To Get Accessible Ramps

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Residents of Heritage Hill Road can anticipate safer pedestrian routes because of the Department of Public Works’ decision to move forward with installing new concrete curb ramps at crosswalks there. 

Those living on Heritage Hill Road—a popular cut-through to Route 123—asked for the crosswalks, and the project has since been given the green light by the Police Commission, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “We had a residential request for mid-block crosswalks on Heritage Hill Road,” Mann said during Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting. “The intention is to address safety concerns, especially during school bus pickup times and facilitate easier crossing for residents.” The comments came as Mann presented a contract with a New Canaan-based company to do the work. Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams, and First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, voted 3-0 to approve the $19,925 contract with Peter Lanni, Inc. The figure includes $10,000 for police to oversee motor vehicle traffic during the ramp construction.

Board of Selectmen

Lead Contamination Found in Soil of Nature Center’s ‘Community Garden’

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Officials on Tuesday approved an approximately $19,000 with a Norwalk-based company following the discovery of lead in the soil of a community garden on a town-owned property. The discovery of elevated levels of lead at in the New Canaan Nature Center’s community herb garden requires the removal and disposal of existing wood from raised beds, the spreading and grading of existing soils, placement of a filter fabric on top of the soils and capping the entire area with two inches of stone, officials said during the Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting. “We recently had the gardens tested and unfortunately they came in with lead levels that were elevated, so that they were no longer able to be utilized for a community garden,” Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the selectmen at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “They weren’t to the point where they need to be removed or they need to be permanently capped,” he continued. “The direction from the Health Department was that we can close the area, place a filter fabric over the top of it and then two inches of stone and then reutilize the area for other purposes.

Board of Selectmen

Fellow Selectmen Pooh-Pooh Moynihan’s Proposed ‘Committee’ for Studying Cell Service

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Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams last week scuttled a plan from New Canaan’s highest elected official to appoint a new committee that would study cell service in town. As he’d signaled the prior week, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan during an April 4 Board of Selectmen meeting said he wanted to appoint a new committee to work on improving service on the west side of town. Corbet and Williams responded that there’s no need to form a brand-new committee for such work, since it rightly should be handled by a soon-to-be-reconstituted Utilities Commission. Referring to Moynihan’s suggestion, Corbet said, “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

A reactivated Utilities Commission would include residents “with expertise and knowledgeable backgrounds and information about all aspects of public utilities, including cell service, including issues such as electricity and water,” Corbet said at the selectmen meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“So there is a broad remit, if you will, in terms of the responsibilities of the Utilities Commission,” she said. “The first of which is to address cellular service in town.

Government

Town Approves $20,000 Contract for Richmond Hill Road Sidewalk Project

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voted in favor of a $20,000 contract with a Meriden-based company to help with a project that will take advantage of the state’s plan for a summer-long shutdown of the Metro-North Railroad’s New Canaan branch line. The town for years has planned to install a new sidewalk on Richmond Hill Road between the exit from Mead Park to Marshall Ridge Road. The project is receiving funding through a state Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program or “LOTCIP” grant, and as of last fall, the last major piece was securing permissions from multiple agencies on how the new pedestrian route would cross the railroad tracks on Richmond Hill. The new contract with Meriden-based Cardinal Engineering Associates is designed to “bring the Richmond Hill Road sidewalk project through its final phases of the grant requirements,” according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “We have a window of opportunity this June, July and August when the rail bed will be shut down, to be able to do the work across the rail bed and then finish the sidewalk,” Mann told the selectmen during their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Government

Cell Tower Developer: We Can Present Two Possible West School Locations to the State

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A cell tower developer said last week that, with the town’s support, he could present state officials with two locations for erecting monopoles behind West School if his own preferred location is, in fact, “off the table” as New Canaan’s legislative body has asserted. Homeland Towers Regional Manager Ray Vergati told members of the Board of Selectmen during their March 21 meeting that he still would prefer to go with what’s known as “Option A” for the new tower serving the west side of town (about 900 feet behind West School and 600 feet from its playing fields). Two alternative tower locations deeper into the woods behind the school, toward Llewelyn Drive and Carriage Lane—dubbed “Option B” and “Option C”—would need to be even taller towers to make up for a loss in elevation, and the latter may well trigger concerns about environmental impact because of designated wetlands. “Look, do I want to be in [Option] B and C? No,” Vergati said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.