Bill Oestmann

Town Approves $62,000 Contract to Repair Gazebo in Waveny

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The Board of Selectmen last week approved a $62,100 contract with a Ridgefield-based company to repair the gazebo in Waveny Park. The company, Alden Bailey, has all supplies in stock to do the work, according to Bill Oestmann, superintendent of buildings in the Department of Public Works. The gazebo’s roof needs repair “and the structure itself is needing a little cleaning up,” Oestmann told the selectmen at their Aug. 23 meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “Kids over the years have done a little vandalism to it,” Oestmann said.

Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Approve Contract for Design of ‘Town Hall-Style’ Project at New Canaan Police Station

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The Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting approved a $67,500 contract with a Berlin-based architectural firm to provide a wide range of services in preparation for a widely anticipated renovation of the New Canaan Police Department. The appointed Police Department Building Committee has proposed retaining 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—and also replacing the addition on the rear of the structure with a new one. Officials have referred to the project as the renovate-as-new or “Town Hall option,” as a similar project had been done about seven years ago with the expansion and renovation there. The firm, Jacunski Humes Architects, will provide architectural, interior, civil engineering, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, information technology, site planning and landscape design, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works.

Berchem Moses

Town Exceeds Legal Budget by 32%

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The town exceeded its budget for legal fees by 32% in the fiscal year that ended June 30, documents show. The total spent in legal fees—$395,947.42 against a budget of $300,000—does not include expenses incurred as part of the town’s purchase of an Elm Street building earlier this year, according to a legal bill approved July 26 by the Board of Selectmen. (Those fees, which the Board of Finance later “re-classified,” had already exceeded $43,000 by January, past bills show.)

During the Board’s meeting, Selectman Kathleen Corbet asked about the $8,000 monthly retainer that New Canaan pays to Berchem Moses PC, the town attorney’s firm. “Relative to the full amount of the budget, about 20%, is that similar to what other towns are?” Corbet asked during the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “Is that typically what we should expect in terms of the overall budget, the retainer cost?”

Referring to Town Attorney Ira Bloom, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan responded, “I don’t know exactly what other towns pay but I’m told by Ira that we are in the ballpark.

Government

Town Approves $235,000 Contract for Interior Restoration Design at The Playhouse 

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Town officials last week approved an approximately $235,000 contract with a local company for design services for the interior restoration of The Playhouse on Elm Street. The Board of Selectmen at its July 12 meeting voted unanimously in favor of the contract with Architectural Preservation Studio, DPC, which has offices in New Canaan and New York City. The work will involve “investigation, architectural design and administrative services to renovate and restore the interior” of the 1923-built movie theater on Elm Street, Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the selectmen at their meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. 

Shuttered at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and available to a new tenant since later that year, when Bow Tie Cinemas terminated its lease, the Playhouse is getting a new operator in Montclair, N.J. Cinema Lab. Following two public hearings, the Town Council on June 29 voted unanimously in favor of a lease agreement with Playhouse Lab LLC, a newly formed company whose principal is listed in state records as Montclair-based Cinema Lab Topco, LLC. 

The town has allocated $600,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds toward the Playhouse, and is allocating another $1 million in bonded funds toward capital upgrades at the Elm Street building. Additionally, the town has has built up about $800,000 in a separate fund through collecting rent from tenants at the prominent brick building. 

Architectural Preservation Studio has been “an excellent partner while we’ve been working through the entire process with Cinema Lab,” Mann said.

Government

Town: Several Paving Projects To Finish in About One Week

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Town officials say the expect in about one week to finish several paving projects throughout New Canaan. Recently, the town finished repaving Main Street from Lakeview Avenue to Maple Street, as well as Park Street from Bank Street to Elm, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. Mead Street has been done with new sidewalks, as have long-planned projects on Mortimer Street and Lockwood and Brinckerhoff Avenues, he told members of the Board of Selectmen at their July 12 meeting. “We will work through the next phase of paving shortly—that is, Vitti Street, Soundview Lane, Cross Street and Ferris Hill Road will be done shortly, and a portion of Cherry,” Mann said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. 

The town also is sealing an additional 19 roads and putting on a micro thin overlay, Mann said—work that’s done now because “during this time, right after July [starts], people are gone,” he said. 

The update came as the selectmen approved a different contract for new and improved sidewalks in New Canaan, following a request for information from Selectman Nick Williams. He asked specifically about Route 123. 

Mann said that the first course of finishing Route 123 has been set down though state officials did shorten the length of the repaving work due to budget constraints, meaning it will be finished next year. “I spoke to the DOT last week, everything that they had cut out of the budget this year—the piece on 106, 124 and then the second stretch on 123—are all slated for next year,” Mann said.