News

Police Commissioner Urges New Canaan Residents To Remove Valuables from Vehicles, Lock Up

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As car thefts continue to rise in New Canaan, the head of the Police Commission last week urged residents to lock up and ensure valuables are removed from parked vehicles both at home and in public places. Despite the upward trend, “people continue to leave their keys in their cars,” Commission Chair Paul Foley said during the appointed body’s June 16 meeting, held via videoconference. “They continue to leave bags and valuables on the front seats, back seats, visible,” Foley said. “Windows aren’t being broken as I understand—except in the parks, if they leave a bag in the parks, the windows have been smashed. Again, none of these perpetrators are townspeople, that we know of.

Jim McLaughlin

Police Commission Votes 2-1 To Widen Sections of Sidewalk on Elm Street

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Municipal officials at a recent meeting voted in favor of a proposal to widen parts of the sidewalk along the one-way stretch of Elm Street downtown. The Police Commission at May 19 meeting reviewed a proposal to widen sidewalks at Elm and South Avenue, as well as along the north side of Elm Street between South and The Playhouse. Plans also call for a sidewalk “bump-out” at the crosswalk in front of the Bank of America building and converting six parking spaces on Elm into 15-minute spots, officials have said. Public Works Director Tiger Mann said the widened sidewalks would help restaurants accommodate outdoor dining and allow for expanded retail space. “In this day and age, the majority of people want to come downtown, that’s one of the reasons why New Canaan is so successful, we have a vibrant downtown,” he told members of the Commission at their regular meeting, held via videoconference. 

He continued, “It’s the walkability thereof that brought to the forefront.

Government

Police Commission Approves Road Closures for July 17 Sidewalk Sale

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New Canaan’s local traffic authority last week approved a request to close a main drag in the heart of the downtown for a Saturday in July for the one of the community’s most popular annual events. The Police Commission vote unanimously to close the one-way stretch of Elm Street, part of Forest Street and the “Pop-Up Park” area at Elm and South for the Sidewalk Sale, to be held July 17. “We are not going to close Main Street this year, which we would have had to ask the state for permission for that,” New Canaan Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Laura Budd told members of the Commission at their regular meeting, held May 19 via videoconference. “It will be bigger than last year, where we asked for two days to close the street. This year, we’re just going to ask for one.

Government

Netflix To Film Christmas Movie on Main Street in June 

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New Canaan’s local traffic authority this week approved a request to close part of Main Street overnight on a Sunday into Monday next month so that Netflix can shoot scenes for a Christmas movie. “The Noel Diary” starring Justin Hartley, Bonnie Bedeilia and Treat Williams should come out next year, the movie’s location manager, Michael Fucci, told members of the Police Commission at their regular meeting Wednesday. A film crew will shoot some scenes at a Wydendown Road home later this month and then will return for June 27 and 28, Fucci said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “We have one or two scenes that we’d like to shoot around 6 p.m. on Elm Street, which we are still trying to fine-tune that,” he said. “But the bigger scene wants to take place in front of Town Hall on Main Street, between Locust Avenue and East Avenue.

Government

Town Plans Additional Pedestrian-Activated ‘Flashing Beacons’ at Crosswalks in New Canaan

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Town officials say they’re hoping the state will consider funding installation of three pedestrian-activated flashing beacons at busy crosswalks in New Canaan. The three pedestrian crosswalks in question—at South Avenue and the YMCA, Old Stamford Road and Gower Road, and Oenoke Ridge and the Nature Center—do not meet state Department of Transportation criteria for speed limits and traffic volume, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. Yet the state may still cover the $16,000 cost for installing each “Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon” or “RRFB” if the town resubmits the locations as “honorable mentions,” Mann told members of the Police Commission at their most recent regular meeting. “We don’t have any that meet the criteria right now but we can at least put them on the list and, if you are amenable, go forward at that point,” Mann told the appointed body during its March 17 meeting, held via videoconference. “Each one of these that is requested has been requested by the residents or by our engineering staff, based on what we are looking at and the proposed sidewalk extensions that we are looking at doing throughout town.”

Mann added, “If we can’t get approval from the state, we are planning to extend the sidewalk on Oenoke Ridge to Parade Hill [Road] this year, once we get a DOT permit, and I would like to be able to install that one with town funds if I can’t get DOT funds for it.