Government

Parks Officials Propose New Rental Rates for Waveny House

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Saying rental rates at Waveny House have fallen out-of-line with similar area facilities and require seasonal flexibility, parks officials last week voted unanimously to recommend a new slate of fees. Whereas rates for several years have been fixed at $2,650 for non-residents and $1,500 for residents, the Parks & Recreation Commission at its Jan. 11 meeting voted I favor of the following schedule:

 

In addition to those fees, a rental of the “walled garden” area would be available for $350 under the proposed rates, up from $250. The town should be drawing as much money as possible in renting out the facility, according to Gene Goodman, who drew up the proposed rates with help from fellow Parks & Rec commissioner Katie Owsley. “We should be maximizing the revenue,” Goodman said at the meeting, held at Lapham Community Center.

Around Town

‘Make Sure the Trail Gets Finished Properly’: Parks Officials Push for Top Mix on New Pedestrian Path at Waveny

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Seeking to make more widely usable a new trail at Waveny, public works officials said Wednesday night that they’re hoping to partner with a nonprofit organization that’s dedicated to ensuring that the park continues to thrive and serve New Canaanites. The Waveny Park Conservancy—a group that’s already created a pair of popular new trails—would like to see every trail in the park use its high-quality mix as a top layer for New Canaanites to trod as they pass, according to Tiger Mann, director of the Department of Public Works. Yet that mix is “very expensive” as such materials go, and in order to purchase enough to cover a long new trail that runs from the main road through Waveny toward Lapham Community Center, some help is needed, Mann told members of the Park & Recreation Commission at their regular monthly meeting. With the town working on a regularly approved budget of about $50,000 for such projects, “we are going to need a little help from the conservancy,” Mann said at the meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. Originally requested two years ago by Recreation Director Steve Benko, the trail garnered support from New Canaan’s funding bodies and received approval for a $43,000 contract from the selectmen in October.

Government

‘The Town Needs To Invest a Little More’: Officials Call for More Funds to Maintain Public Parks’ Grounds

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More maintenance is needed in New Canaan’s parks, particularly in landscaping the areas immediately around public buildings, and the officials in charge of them say they’ll seek more money in the upcoming budget season to care properly for the cherished properties. The Parks Department doesn’t have the funds needed “to adequately maintain the parks,” Sally Campbell, chairman of the Park & Recreation Commission, told members of the Town Council at their Nov. 16 meeting. “I just still can’t believe the conditions of the landscaping around our town buildings and around our beautiful town assets,” Campbell said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “And we are fortunate that [Parks Superintendent] John Howe does an amazing job maintaining the athletic fields and maintaining our baseball diamonds—and those are kind of easier to maintain—but to maintain the landscaping around Lapham [Community Center], or in Irwin Park where the weeds are just all over the place or the town buildings, we just need more money.”

The comments came during a pre-budget season review of parks and recreation before the Town Council, the final funding body to sign off on New Canaan’s spending plan each year.

Government

Rec Director on Caffeine & Carburetors: Spectators, Not ‘Show’ Car Owners, Driving Higher Attendance at Waveny

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On the heels of similar comments from parks officials, members of New Canaan’s legislative body this week said that while volunteer-run Caffeine & Carburetors gatherings are fun events that showcase the town, it now must be regulated in some fashion due to its rapid growth and size. Steve Karl, vice chairman of the Town Council, said during the group’s regular meeting Wednesday night that the auto enthusiasts gathering is a “great event” and “attraction to New Canaan” that creates a lot of enthusiasm. “But by the same token … we are a small town and you’ve to regulate it a little bit,” Karl said at the council’s meeting, held at Town Hall. “And I love it. But we need to be careful.

Government

‘It Is Probably Getting Too Big’: Parks Officials Seek To Control Size of Caffeine & Carburetors at Waveny

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Though Caffeine & Carburetors operates smoothly and safely, the auto enthusiast gathering has grown so popular that it’s reached a tipping point where controls on attendance must be considered, parks officials said this week. On the heels of a the largest-ever Caffeine & Carburetors at Waveny—a gathering that saw an estimated 1,300-plus people attend—Park & Recreation Commission Chair Sally Campbell said Wednesday that “it is probably getting too big.”

“Things grow to a point and then you really have to look at them, and they have come to a point,” Campbell said during the group’s regular meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. Launched six years ago as a modest gathering of specialty and antique car enthusiasts by New Canaan resident Doug Zumbach, the owner of the eponymous coffee shop on Pine Street, Caffeine & Carburetors swiftly outgrew its original location. It drew an estimated 400 cars in November 2013, and the following spring expanded to Elm Street downtown. It debuted at Waveny that fall of 2014, and parks officials approved two events downtown and two at the park for 2015.