Government

Parks Officials Propose New Rates for 2016 Season at Waveny Pool

By |

With plans for even more improvements at the popular and self-sustaining Waveny Pool—such as installing a water heater, hopefully before the 2016 season starts, relining the pool’s plaster, bringing in 50 new beach chairs, landscaping the area and upping the frequency of cleaning the facility’s bathrooms—the Park & Recreation Commission on Wednesday night voted unanimously to propose a new slate of rates for the upcoming summer. Commissioner Jason Milligan said a newly organized Waveny Pool ‘Lifestyle Committee’ composed of regular pool users has proactively and collaboratively recommended a number of sound improvements “and almost all of the things on their wish list are being addressed in one way or another this year.”

Those improvements, and other longer-term plans for maintenance and upgrades, require modest increases to pool pass fees, the commissioners said. The proposed new rates are as follows (they must be approved by the Board of Selectmen)—passes go on sale April 1:

 

Sally Campbell, chairman of the commission, said that based on the proposed new rate sheet, the group should be able to fund pool operations as well as make a “strong contribution to the capital reserve” and pay for five years’ of projected capital projects (such as redoing the deck at Waveny Pool and installing lights). “We feel really comfortable that we are in great financial shape, and that not only will we be able to run a great pool this season but we will be able to take care of all our capital improvements,” Campbell said.

Government

‘Waveny House Committee’ Appointed To Help Determine Future Use of Cherished Public Building

By |

Faced with numerous and expensive baseline repairs that are needed to get Waveny House running as an ADA-compliant public building, town officials on Tuesday appointed a committee that will help determine just how the cherished New Canaan structure should be used. The “Waveny House Committee” is expected to recommend whether the 1912-built home continues to house the Recreation Department, operate more extensively as a paid special events venue, serve as a storage space or perform other functions—a wide range of possibilities that could shape the scope of New Canaan’s capital investment in the facility (more on that below). The committee will consist of Bill Holmes, Suzanne Jonker, Steve Parrett and Penny Young, members of the Board of Selectmen said during their regular meeting, with Recreation Director Steve Benko, Parks & Recreation Commission Chairman Sally Campbell and DPW Buildings Superintendent Bill Oestmann to join at some point. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said: “There is an attempt to identify some dollars that we can go to the public with over the next two or three years to do an improvement on Waveny House, and we all thought it was important that we just don’t take what is there and redo it, but we should have input as to what the usage should be of that house, how it functions, what the parameters are for the usage of that house.”

The committee is not a “building committee” (which is formed to study, recommend and oversee a specific capital project) and is different from the nonprofit Waveny Park Conservancy, a private group that’s focused on Waveny’s grounds, specifically in the southwest quadrant of the park. Selectman Beth Jones said it was “great to have” Holmes on the committee—he’s a member of the Conservancy, too, as a representative from the New Canaan Preservation Alliance.

News

‘We Should Be Able To Do Better’: Officials Flag Sharply Rising, High Costs of Youth Basketball Program

By |

Concerned about planned cost increases to New Canaan’s only youth basketball program—already the most expensive in the area, prohibitively so for many families—officials said Monday night they hope to address rising gym rental fees at Saxe Middle School, which have doubled in three years. In reviewing a financial breakdown from the New Canaan Basketball Association, officials with the town’s Youth Sports Committee said they were surprised by and concerned about rental fees at Saxe that have jumped from $16,000 in 2012 to $32,000 last year—and, as a result, pushed the 5-month program’s per-player cost from $780 (with uniforms) to what likely will be about $980 next year. “I am having difficulty with this,” committee member Sally Campbell said during the group’s meeting, held in Lapham Community Center. While field sports pay a $20 per-player fields usage fee to the town, basketball’s gym rental cost is more than 12 times that amount on a per-player basis. “I feel that our outdoor sports—lacrosse, soccer and so on—they have access to our fields, and a town resource, and they do not have to pay anything and this is a similar program and I think somehow we should be able to do better.

Government

Neighbor of New Canaan Nature Center Raises Concerns About Condition of Grounds

By |

A longtime next-door neighbor of the New Canaan Nature Center told officials at a public meeting last week that the organization is failing to care properly for its grounds and that he plans to share steps with the town to correct existing problems and ensure they do not re-emerge. John Busch of Oenoke Ridge Road told members of the Park & Recreation Commission that he’s lived just north of the Nature Center for nearly 20 years “and I walk the trails all the time.”

“And I daresay I know a lot about how the land has been cared for and, in my opinion, not cared for,” Busch told the commission at its regular meeting, held Wednesday night in the Douglass Room at Lapham Community Center. “I would like to share some thoughts not only about the condition currently but actions that I think this commission could take to improve the condition of the land not just now but in the future.”

Chairman Sally Campbell said the commission would form a subcommittee to establish whether it has oversight of the property and, if so, walk the grounds with Busch and report back to the full group at its meeting in February. Asked by commissioner Matt Konspore for a quick summary of what exactly is wrong, Busch answered: “The Nature Center’s land is something not been cared for. There is a lot of debris.

Government

Parks Officials Pursue Water Heater, Re-Lining at Waveny Pool

By |

Parks officials say the self-sustaining Waveny Pool has generated nearly $300,000 in a capital reserve fund and that if strong bids come back to the town, the popular summer facility could see the money used to install a heater in the pool for the upcoming season as well as to re-line it this fall. The heater especially is something that users of Waveny Pool say they’d like to see, in addition to more regular cleaning of the bathrooms there and other tweaks, according to members of the Park & Recreation Commission. A heated pool “would be just a terrific thing,” Chairman Sally Campbell said at the group’s regular meeting, held Wednesday night in the Douglass Room at Lapham Community Center. Commissioner Jason Milligan, who sits on a Waveny Pool Subcommittee, said more than a dozen regular users of the facility met and brainstormed several ideas that could make the experience there even better. Recreation Director Steve Benko said plans already are underway to increase the workload for a company that cleans Waveny Pool’s bathrooms so that they’re cleaned twice per day during an 8-week period at the height of summer, raising the contractor’s fee from about $7,000 to $9,800 per season.