Board of Selectmen

‘This Is Ridiculous’: Divided Board of Selectmen Postpones West School Cell Tower Discussion to September

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New Canaan’s highest elected official on Tuesday was outvoted by two fellow members of the Board of Selectmen on the timing of when the town should formally take up a divisive proposal to install a cell phone tower behind West School. Echoing the cell tower developer who addressed the Board last month, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said during Tuesday’s regular meeting that it was important to move forward now with decisions regarding the proposed 125-foot “monopine” tower. Despite concerns raised by parents and neighbors in June, Moynihan included this item on the selectmen’s agenda for its July 12 meeting: “West Cell Tower – Discussion regarding draft lease between Homeland Towers and the Town of New Canaan regarding a proposed telecommunications facility at 769 Ponus Ridge Road.”

Selectman Nick Williams pushed back, saying it made more sense to discuss whether or not to pursue a cell tower at West School at all than to delve into the details of a proposed lease. Williams said the selectmen should wait until after Labor Day, when families return from summer break, to have that larger discussion. 

“We’re talking about whether we put a cellphone tower up at West School or not. We don’t need to talk about the lease until we come to that decision,” Williams said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“I would say we should wait until at least after Labor Day, so that we can have a fulsome discussion when people are not in Nantucket or Maine or Vermont or whatever.

Board of Selectmen

Cell Tower Developer: ‘There Is Some Urgency’ with West School Proposal

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A representative from the company that’s been working with the town on a plan to install a cell tower behind West School said Tuesday that a carrier has been waiting for several months for a lease to be signed there so that the project can move forward. Ray Vergati, a regional manager with Homeland Towers, told the three members of the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting that “there is some urgency” with the recently disclosed plans for 769 Ponus Ridge, the 47.4-acre town-owned property where West School is located. 

“Urgency in the sense that we have been waiting patiently for seven years and we have a carrier that’s funded,” Vergati said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “We don’t want to lose the funding with the carrier. So that’s our sense of urgency, in the sense that we want to keep this moving forward. But this is not an overnight process.”

He added: “Maybe ‘urgency’ is my personal word I’m using.

Government

Town To Repave Parts of Main and Park Streets

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The Board of Selectmen last week approved an extension of an approximately $240,000 contract to repave portions of two roads downtown that originally had been slated for the repair work next year. Those living along two stretches of Main and Park Streets near the center of town have already had four years to decide whether they want to hook up their homes to a natural gas main, and if they haven’t done it yet they likely will not, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. If those homeowners do want to connect in the future, they’ll pay the cost of repaving a trench in the roadway themselves, instead of Eversource, Mann told the selectmen during their June 7 meeting. “This is a stretch of Main Street from Lakeview to Maple,” Mann told the selectmen during their meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “So we won’t touch Maple to Cherry only because the library is under construction.

Around Town

Moynihan: Town Cannot Apply for Affordable Housing Moratorium As Planned

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After asserting for several weeks that the town was close to filing, New Canaan’s highest elected official said Tuesday that the municipality cannot apply at this time for four years of relief from a widely discussed affordable housing statute. The town did prepare its application for a four-year “moratorium” from a state law known by its statute number, 8-30g. In towns where less than 10% of all housing stock qualifies as “affordable,” under the state’s definition, the law effectively allows developers to skirt local planning decisions in projects that set aside a certain percentage of units at below-market rates. The town had qualified for one such moratorium in 2017, with the denser redevelopment of New Canaan Housing Authority-owned apartments Millport Avenue, and hoped to qualify for another through the redevelopment of the Canaan Parish complex at Lakeview Avenue and Route 123, which was partially completed last October. Yet during a required public comment period on the new moratorium application, a prominent land use attorney—Tim Hollister, from a firm representing a local developer in two 8-30g applications, at Weed and Elm Streets, and on Main Street—said the town’s application was incomplete and would not be approved.

Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Approve Contract for New Lights at Dunning Stadium

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved a $567,855 contract to install new lights at Dunning Stadium. The town will pay about $455,000 of the total project cost out of the fiscal year 2023 parks capital budget, with the nonprofit New Canaan Athletic Foundation making up the difference of about $113,000, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “We’ve gotten good play from what is there, but now it’s time for reinstallation,” Mann told the selectmen during their regular meeting. He referred to the lighting infrastructure at Dunning, much of which dates back 25 years to the creation of the stadium at New Canaan High School. “All the lights will be removed, the existing bases will be removed,” Mann said of the project.