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.

Amy Murphy Carroll

‘This Is Disappointing’: Playhouse Renovation Estimate Up to $7.9 Million, Double Original Budget

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Due primarily to the unexpected expense of a new HVAC system, the widely anticipated renovation of the town-owned movie theater on Elm Street is now projected to cost about $7.9 million, more than twice the initial budget of $3.9 million, officials say. The town originally anticipated re-using the existing HVAC system in the Playhouse, and budgeted about $400,000 for that part of the project, but due to new Code requirements and the need for better air circulation, the cost has risen by nearly $2 million, to $2.3 million, according to Department of Public Works officials. In addition, the town and its contractors found, after starting the interior demolition of the 1923-built Playhouse, that more structural work was needed than they’d anticipated, Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday. “We noticed that during previous work in the building they actually did some damage to the structure itself, taking out some bearing items, some of the girders are separating, some of the areas that needed to be replaced were refashioned,” Mann said during the selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“So the structural engineers mentioned things that we’ve got to do on the structural side to make the building whole again. And then, given the fact of, after the eight separate design iterations that we went through to try and fit everything into the building and make it compliant with current standards and make it accessible throughout.

Board of Selectmen

Superintendent: New Canaan Public Schools Grapples with Lack of Substitute Teachers

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New Canaan Public Schools’ most pressing day-to-day need is bringing in more substitute teachers, Superintendent Dr. Bryan Luizzi said last week. The number of teacher absences varies, though January-February “is typically the highest month because of flu season,” Luizzi told members of the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting, held Jan. 26 at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

Asked by Selectman Nick Williams what number of absences “stresses you,” Luizzi responded, “Our system is stressed with more than a handful, to be honest with you, right now, because of the shortage of subs.”

Asked whether “a handful” means three or four, Luizzi said yes. “Saxe is different because of the upper/lower division,” he said. “High school is a little bit different.

Board of Education

School Security: Board of Ed Seeks To Add 10th ‘Campus Monitor’

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Saying it will make New Canaan Public Schools even safer, the Board of Education is seeking to hire an additional “campus monitor” for next academic year. Currently, the district has nine campus monitors at the public schools—one at each elementary school and three each at Saxe Middle School and New Canaan High School. The tenth monitor would allow the “lead campus monitor,” who works in a supervisory capacity, to “go around, check protocols, check buildings, do training with staff, work more closely with the principals,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi told the Board of Selectmen during a budget meeting, held Jan. 26 at Town Hall and via videoconference. The lead monitor would “be involved on a district level,” Luizzi said.