Around Town

Y Exploring Options for Displaced Swimmers-To-Be, including Waveny Pool

By |

One option that the New Canaan YMCA is exploring for its high-performing swimmers next winter (that’s 2015-16)—as a widely anticipated expansion project gets underway and the facility’s pools are not usable—is having the team work out of the nearby outdoor pool at Waveny, town parks officials say. Temporarily “bubbling” and otherwise cold weather-proofing the Waveny Pool during its usual offseason is something the Y is starting to look into, Park & Recreation Commission Chair Sally Campbell said at the group’s most recent meeting. “They’re good citizens of the town, they serve a lot of people in the town and I think we owe it to them [to hear them out],” Campbell said the July 9 meeting, held in the Douglas Room at Lapham Community Center. Asked about the idea, YMCA Vice President of Financial Development, Marketing, and Strategic Initiatives Kristina Barrett said in an email: “Yes, we are exploring options for where swimmers, including the high school team, will go during construction. We are taking every effort to minimize any inconvenience to our members and would be happy to work with Parks & Rec to explore any solutions they might have.”

Town planning officials in April approved the Y’s expansion plans (on 33 conditions).

Around Town

Resident Family Passes for Waveny Pool Down, Revenue Shortfall Projected

By |

New Canaan this summer has seen far more residents purchase daily passes for the Waveny Pool than in years past, yet fewer are buying the more expensive season passes, prompting parks officials to look at ways they might boost revenue for the self-sustaining facility. Members of the Park and Recreation Commission at the group’s regular meeting Wednesday night agreed that they must plan to have enough money in reserve to pay for a new plaster lining for the pool. One estimate puts that project at $140,000. What isn’t clear yet is just what condition the Waveny Pool’s plaster is in—in other words, how soon it absolutely must be replaced—or whether it could be done less expensively. Recreation Director Steve Benko said the life of a marble-like plaster pool surface is eight to 10 years, noting that the Waveny Pool lining is 13 years old.

Around Town

Town: Some Still Taking Mulch from Lapham Road

By |

Though New Canaan last year relocated the town’s mulch pile from Lapham Road to the Transfer Station (to prevent contractors from hauling off with the valuable material), some residents are still ducking into the original site to take pails of it home, officials say. There haven’t been any complaints about the practice and it hasn’t gotten out of hand—likely because it’s physically very demanding, said Tiger Mann, assistant director of the Department of Public Works. “They’re carrying trashcans full of compost in and out because there’s a gate, and that gets old after a while, so you can imagine they’re not carrying much,” Mann said. “It’s a 5-gallon pail kind of thing, no big deal.”

The town carts mulch from Lapham up to the Lakeview Avenue facility—where officials can ensure that only New Canaanites are getting at it—and the change has worked out well. Contractors are no longer taking it.

Government

Town Eyes Plan to Screen, Sell Dredged Material from Mill, Mead Ponds

By |

Town officials are looking into whether the organic material dredged from Mead and Mill Ponds—long piled near the southeast corner of Waveny, in an open area known as the “corn field”—could be treated and sold at a profit for municipal coffers. It isn’t clear just how much of the approximately 30,000 total yards of material could be screened and sold—say, upwards of $15 per cubic yard—because some of it may be too “bony” (too many rocks) or too organic, said Tiger Mann, assistant director of the New Canaan Department of Public Works and senior engineer for the town. The DPW is putting together a proposal that will include a cost-benefit analysis—how much would it cost to screen the dredged material (mostly decomposed leaves) and then how much could New Canaan fetch for it, Mann said. When developed, the proposal would need backing from the Park & Recreation Commission and Board of Selectmen (approving the contract for the screener and revised cost of selling the material). Park & Recreation Commissioner Doug Richardson at the group’s monthly meeting on Thursday said one contractor has been paying about $8 per yard for 4,000 yards of unscreened material.

Around Town

Parks Officials Back New Canaan Garden Club’s Beautification Plan at Irwin

By |

Seeing a need to beautify Irwin Park, the New Canaan Park and Recreation Commission unanimously supported a plan presented by the Irwin Park Committee of the New Canaan Garden Club to update and improve the 36-acre park’s visual aesthetics at the main entrance on Weed Street. The plan, presented by committee chair Katie Stewart, calls for the removal of several unsightly, overgrown and dying trees on either side of the driveway, just past the entrance. This includes three pines on the left side of the driveway and a juniper, two oaks, a maple and several hemlocks on the right. In their place will be a 12-foot Copper beech as well as Stewartias and Kousa dogwoods that Stewart told the commission will complement the visual presentation of the park. “It will form a nice, gracious canopy in that area,” Stewart said.