Government

Town To Designate New ‘School Zone’; Changes To Speed Limits During Drop-Off and Pickup Hours

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Town officials are seeking state approval to designate parts of four roads in New Canaan as part of a new “School Zone” and to reduce the speed limit on three of those roads. Specifically, the proposed School Zone will encompass parts of South Avenue, Farm Road, Gower Road and Putnam Road, covering South School, Saxe Middle School, the New Canaan YMCA and New Canaan High School, according to Gina Musinksi of Fuss & O’Neill, a Hartford-based engineering firm that is working with the town. Gower and Farm Roads would see a reduction from 30 to 25 mph during two blocks of time on school days—7:30 to 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.—while South Avenue (roughly between Surrey Road and Crystal Street) would see a reduction from 35 to 30 mph during the same time, Musinski said. “And then on Putnam Road, the speed limit would be maintained, but it would be published as a school zone,” she said during the appointed body’s meeting, held at police headquarters and via videoconference. The changes would involve new flashing signage to alert motorists to the speed limits when the School Zone is active, and also would allow police to double the fines for exceeding speed limits within the newly designated area, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann.

News

New Canaan Police See Sharp Rise in Stolen Vehicles, Thefts from Cars

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The Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. Stolen vehicles in New Canaan are running at nearly twice last year’s pace so far in 2026, Police Chief John DiFederico told members of the Police Commission at their July 8 meeting, citing a pattern that has persisted despite repeated warnings from the department. Year-to-date through June 30, 15 vehicles have been stolen in town, compared to eight over the same period in 2025, according to the department’s monthly statistics. Larcenies from motor vehicles have risen even more sharply over the same stretch, jumping from three year-to-date in 2025 to 15 so far this year. DiFederico said the cause is largely the same as it has been.

Government

Locals Push for Midblock Crosswalk at Cherry and Cross Streets

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Saying it would improve public safety, dozens of property owners and residents in the area of Cross and Cherry Streets are calling for a new crosswalk there. In a petition signed by 43 people, the group is calling for the town to create a midblock crosswalk that runs across Cherry Street from the western end of Cross Street, with a pedestrian-activated flashing beacon, while removing what they describe as a hazardous crosswalk just up the street, at Locust Avenue. “The installation of a crosswalk at Cross Street traversing Cherry Street, together with the installation of a blinking crosswalk light, will provide a safe way for pedestrians and the like to cross the street, rather than the current mode, which is to jaywalk,” one of the residents, Susan Whitney, told members of the Police Commission during the appointed body’s regular meeting, held Wednesday night at police headquarters. 

She continued: “An added bonus of installing a crosswalk at Cross Street, together with the installation of a blinking crosswalk light, may very well be that flow of vehicular traffic and high speeders may in fact be forced to slow down, making a safer neighborhood for everyone.”

The owner of an apartment building on Cross Street, Arnold Karp, said that the neighborhood has filled out and “we now have enough of a pedestrian area that nobody seems to go all the way to East Avenue or to Locust Avenue. He added, “Everybody crosses somewhere between the two, either at Cross, on either side of Cross, or some place midblock.”

Linda Silvestro said that motorists traveling on Locust Avenue take the turn onto Cherry “at a high rate of speed” and “it’s very, very dangerous.”

“You have to run” to get across the street, she said. Asked how quickly the group could expect a response from the Commission, Police Chief John DiFederico said the matter must be studied, possibly by a professional traffic study consultant.

News
NCPD

Police: Burglaries in New Canaan Up 25% in 2025

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Burglaries in New Canaan are up 25% year-over-year through the first 11 months of 2025, officials say. The rise, from 20 burglaries through November 2024 to 25 in the same time period this year, is prompting the New Canaan Police Department to advise residents “to secure their houses and put on their alarms and lights, and secure their vehicles—especially when people go on vacation,” according to Police Chief John DiFederico. “We are seeing these burglaries continue to trend upward,” DiFederico told members of the Police Commission during their regular meeting, held Wednesday night at NCPD headquarters. “Our investigators are working every single day to try and develop some suspects, and working regionally with other agencies that are seeing the same trends. So we are working hard on that.”

The comments came during a review of monthly statistics. 

Police this past summer warned residents about a new method that burglars used to get inside homes: Using ladders on people’s properties to climb to second-floor entrances. 

Overall, larcenies—including at New Canaan businesses and organizations—are about the same year-over-year, according to the data shared by DiFederico. 

Government

Town To Make Weed-and-Elm a Three-Way Stop

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After years of wrangling about it, town officials decided this week to make the intersection at Elm and Weed Streets a three-way stop. Currently, there’s only a stop sign for motorists on Elm Street, approaching Weed. Police say they’ve received an increasing number in complaints in recent years about motorists ignoring pedestrians trying to get across Weed, including many who are coming to or from Irwin Park. “Obviously there’s a high volume of pedestrian traffic there, to get to Irwin and back from Irwin,” Police Chief John DiFederico said Tuesday night during a regular meeting of the Police Commission, New Canaan’s designated local traffic authority. “Although it’s a real flat road there, if you’re coming south on Weed Street there’s a bit of a crown in the road, and it’s difficult to see the intersection as you approach on Weed Street from the north,” DiFederico said during the meeting, held at police headquarters and via videoconference.