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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.

Caffeine and Carburetors

Parks & Rec Unanimously Approves Oct. 17 ‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ at Waveny

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After all four installments of a popular antique and specialty car show were canceled one year ago due to the pandemic, parks officials on Wednesday night approved ‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ for Oct. 17 at Waveny. It’s founder and organizer, New Canaan resident Doug Zumbach, owner of the eponymous coffee shop at Pine and Grove Streets, “always does such an amazing job, and all the events that he has had in the past have been pretty problem-free,” Parks & Recreation Commissioner Laura Costigan said during the appointed body’s regular meeting, held via videoconference. “And I can’t think better way keep jumpstarting things after the pandemic than approving” the event, she said. The Commission voted 11-0 to approve it. 

Zumbach in proposing the event—and also noting that he hoped in the future for a possible Sept.

Francesca Segalas

After Lengthy Discussion, Parks & Rec Votes 8-1 To Have Kiwanis Sign Repainted

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Parks officials last week voted 8-1 to repaint the sign at the entrance of Kiwanis Park on Old Norwalk Road. The approximately 20-year-old sign—the first in what has become New Canaan’s standard for public parks, brown with white lettering—is “gorgeous” though also “old and faded and dilapidated,” Parks & Recreation Commission Chair Rona Siegel said during the appointed body’s regular meeting, held May 12 via videoconference. Recreation Director Steve Benko and Public Works Director Tiger Mann proposed retaining the brown post and frame of the sign while changing its inset to the same blue as a sign by Kiwanis Park’s swimming hole, and going over its lettering with white reflective paint. Commissioner Francesca Segalas—whose house is located 433 feet from the entrance to Kiwanis, according to Google Maps—led a 23-minute discussion about the sign. 

She opposed the change. “I know that every one of our park signs are brown with white writing and the Kiwanis sign, when we talked about it popping, we talked about just reflective white paint going where the writing is,” Segalas said.

Ed Libonati

New Location in Waveny Approved for Summer Theatre of New Canaan’s 2021 Season

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Parks officials on Wednesday approved a new location in Waveny for the Summer Theatre of New Canaan’s 2021 season. The organization’s 18th outdoor season, featuring a production of “Honky Tonk Angels,” will run near the southwest corner of Waveny’s main athletic fields, north of the main road through the park, following a unanimous vote by the Parks & Recreation at its regular meeting. 

Summer Theatre Executive Producer Ed Libonati said the area near a landmark pine tree opposite the parking lot for the paddle tennis courts and dog run turned out to be “an exceptionally great location for us.”

“We have an abridged season this year, a shorter one than normal,” Libonati told the Commission during its meeting, held via videoconference. “I was not sure how everything was going to turn out but it has turned out beautiful. We anticipate with the majority of the people being vaccinated that the protocol and the comfort level the health protocols and comfort level should go very well with the audiences. Obviously we have taken extreme care with protocols with our staff and everyone in our organization will be vaccinated who works with the Summer Theatre.