Carl Mason

Parks & Rec Weighs Town Support in Maintenance of Waveny Disc Golf Course

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The town should consider helping more with upkeep for an increasingly popular facility in Waveny Park, officials say. The volunteers who created and maintain the Waveny Disc Golf Course on the west side of Lapham Road have taken care of mowing, brush-cutting, fallen tree-clearing and tee and trail maintenance since its inception in 2007, according to Parks & Recreation Commissioner Carl Mason. They also increased the number of holes on the free public course from 12 to the standard 18 last year, he said. “I think we need to start thinking about what it would take for the Parks Department to take care of some of the maintenance here,” Mason told fellow commissioners during their regular meeting, held Sept. 8 via videoconference.

Around Town

‘It Looks Beautiful’: New Pickleball Courts at Mead Park Near Completion 

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The widely anticipated pickleball courts at Mead Park are nearing completion and a new patio is planned for an area next to them, officials say. The courts have been painted and fencing has been installed, Public Works Director Tiger Mann told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission during their regular meeting, held July 14 via videoconference. Gates into and between the courts still need to be installed, as does a practice tennis wall at the southern end of the new courts, officials said. Located on the western end of Mead, above the pond and colonnade, the area around the courts also will get landscaping, an expanded parking lot and a patio, Mann said. “It’s shaping up really nicely,” he told Parks & Rec during an update.

Around Town

Committee Struggles To Find Date for Twice-Postponed Waveny Fireworks

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The volunteer committee that organizes the annual Fourth of July fireworks in Waveny is struggling to find a new date for the twice-postponed event, officials say. Originally scheduled for July 3 with a July 11 rain date, the annual picnic and fireworks show has been put off due to rain and concerns about damaging Waveny’s athletic fields where visitors’ cars are parked, according to Recreation Director Steve Benko. “So we are looking to try and find an alternate date,” he told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission during their regular meeting, held July 14 via videoconference. ‘That’s been kind of difficult.”

The comments came during Benko’s general update to the Commission. 

Canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Family Fourth could not be scheduled with the fireworks contractor on the usual July 4 date this year. Though the Family Fourth Committee started planning later than usual in 2021 due to uncertainty about COVID-related restrictions, the group decided in May to market this year’s fireworks as “New Canaan residents only.” It’s unclear how many tickets were sold.

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Moynihan: Parks & Rec Member Arrested in Domestic Incident To Remain on Commission

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New Canaan’s highest elected official said this week that he’s looked into the arrest in a domestic incident of a Parks & Recreation Commission member and has concluded that there’s no reason for the town to take action regarding that individual’s seat on the appointed body. Jack Hawkins, 45, was arrested May 31 by New Canaan Police and charged with disorderly conduct. A 67-year-old woman, Judy Hawkins, also was charged with the misdemeanor offense following what police called a “domestic dispute” that involved both of them and a third occupant of the Hawkinses’ New Norwalk Road home. Police withheld details, saying it was a domestic matter. Following the arrest and prior to the Commission’s June meeting, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan outlined a decision-making process whereby he would meet with police and discuss the domestic incident “to understand what they know before I can make any judgment as to Jack.”

Asked during a phone interview Monday whether he had followed up with police as planned, Moynihan said, “I would say no, although let me recollect entirely.

Caroline Garrity

Tree Warden, Garden Club at Odds Over Waveny Landscaping Plan

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The town official charged by state statute with caring for New Canaan’s public trees is at odds with a local volunteer group that’s eager to remove several Japanese maples from a walkway near Waveny House. The town’s tree warden thinks the maples planted along one side of the path that runs between the gazebo and fountain at the top of the sledding hill “are absolutely beautiful,” Public Works Director Tiger Mann said during the June 9 Parks & Recreation Commission meeting. Referring to a New Canaan Garden Club proposal to replace those trees with a long bed of peonies and flowering plants, Mann added, “He understands your desire to have that, but he also feels that he answers to the other 20,000 residents in the town and he doesn’t see any good reason why they should be removed at present.”

The comments followed a presentation by representatives of the Garden Club and Waveny Park Conservancy, as well as their landscape designer. Removing the Japanese maples would open up a nice view of the hill and pond below, would create more symmetry with the peonies already on the west side of the footpath and would be a better photo opportunity for people getting married at Waveny, according to Conservancy Chair Caroline Garrity and Kathryn Herman of New Canaan-based Kathryn Herman Design, LLC. “It would be very stunning to have this incredibly long walk that was unified on both sides of the walk with this really beautiful display,” Herman said during the meeting, held via videoconference.