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.

Government

State To Recommend Improved Signage, Pavement Markings at Curves on New Canaan Roads

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Town officials last week agreed to allow the state design a project that could see new signage and pavement markings installed at curves on 18 roads in New Canaan. The New Canaan Police Commission will still have the ability to accept or reject a state-funded traffic safety project that is to come from the the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The first step is for New Canaan to “give them a list of our worst curves in town,” according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “They will come out and take a look and then devise a project associated with it, and come back to us for approval, and then implement it and pay for it. ” Mann told members of the Commission at their regular meeting, held March 17 via videoconference.

Allyson Halm

Town Talking To Local Vet About Paying Fee To Shelter Lost Domestic Pets

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Police Chief Leon Krolikowski said last week that he’s in talks with a local veterinarian about New Canaan paying a fee to use the facility as a place to house stray or roaming domestic animals until an owner is found or they’re adopted to a new family. The local vet “did propose a very reasonable per diem,” Krolikowski told members of the Police Commission during their Feb. 17 meeting, held via videoconference. “I don’t have a final number, so I can’t discuss that until I get something in writing, but that could be an option if the shelter isn’t working for us,” he said. Krolikowski added that there a local vet would need to meet specific state requirements to take on the responsibility of housing strays, and more research needs to be done on those requirements prior to any decision.

Government

‘People in This Town Don’t Like To Walk’: Officials Advise Commission To Leave Loading Zone Unchanged

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New Canaan shouldn’t relocate or otherwise alter a frequently abused loading zone on Main Street, police said this week, because doing so would only move the problem elsewhere and risks an exacerbating intervention by the state. 

Instead of making the loading zone at the East Avenue intersection shorter—or moving it, or changing the times at which non-truck-driving motorists are fined for parking there—the town should do all it can to notify drivers that it’s trucks-only from 7 to 11 a.m., authorities said during Wednesday’s regular meeting of the Police Commission. The loading zone itself does get used sporadically throughout the day, New Canaan Police Community Impact Officer Kelly Coughlin told the appointed body. “It does get busy on that upper half of Main Street,” Coughlin said during the meeting, held via videoconference, referring to Main between East and Locust Avenues. 

“So I do notice that parking fills up, but the other thing I’ve noticed is the other half—the lower half, south of that intersection—there are quite a few spaces right by Connecticut Muffin, in front of Gofer, on both sides. A lot of those businesses aren’t open until 11 o’clock or in COVID times, even 12 [p.m.] or later, but a lot of people don’t seem willing to cross over the crosswalk or go a little bit further. People want the convenience of parking right in front of the store.