Government

Officials Dissolve P&Z Subcommittee on Wireless

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Saying a subcommittee of the Planning & Zoning Commission appeared to have overstepped its charge—developing a town-wide strategy for wireless communications rather focusing on more specific areas such as screening and height—officials last week dissolved the group. P&Z Chairman John Goodwin said in an Aug. 17 email that the commission has made “very good progress on this complicated and contentious issue” since the question of specifics on wireless in the New Canaan Zoning Regulations came up last year. Yet “the process has become more politicized than would have been ideal,” Goodwin said. “While in many public statements, we have stated that the commission should not be the entity to be developing a wireless strategy for the town, we have tended to wander into that realm in some of our discussions.

Government

Election 2017: Republican Candidates for First Selectman Debate Cell Service, Outback

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Candidates seeking New Canaan Republicans’ endorsement at the July 18 caucus on Tuesday night debated a wide variety of issues facing the town—from how to improve cellular coverage to what to do with the former Outback Teen Center building and how to open the lines of communication within municipal government—during a lively Republican Town Committee-sponsored debate. Incumbent First Selectman Rob Mallozzi, who has announced his intention to run for a fourth term, is being challenged by Cristina A. Ross, a 26-year resident and Town Council member who works as a professional architect, and who previously spent 10 years on the Parks and Recreation Commission, and Kevin Moynihan, a 36-year resident and retired former attorney for Merrill Lynch who also currently serves on the Town Council. The candidates fielded a wide variety of questions from New Canaanite Editor Michael Dinan and New Canaan Advertiser Editor Greg Reilly, who served as co-moderators for the event. Billed as a “debate,” the 2.5-hour session—50 minutes of which was dedicated to the first selectman candidates—featured politically charged if limited direct interaction among those seeking the town’s highest elected office (the video will be available here very soon). On the topic of how to improve cell service in town, Ross said the communication between the town and the residents with regard to infrastructure—including cell towers—must be improved.