Public Works: 3-Year Water Main Installation To Affect 106, Little Brook Road, Lakeview, Harrison and South Avenues

The water company’s plan to expand a transmission line through New Canaan is on track to commence next year, officials say. The three-year expansion will see a line come into New Canaan from Wilton and run in front of East School in 2022, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. 

Little Brook Road can then be repaved next year in the aftermath of that work, Mann told members of Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure during their regular meeting, held Monday via videoconference. “And then in 2023 they are going to come into town on the eastern side, work their way through and then in 2024 finish,” Mann said. “The majority of the roads that will be affected as they come down 106, come down Little Brook, Lakeview, across the cemetery, get onto Harrison Avenue. Harrison Avenue to South Avenue.

Public Works: Roads in Downtown New Canaan To Be Repaired Next Spring 

Town officials say they plan next spring to repair downtown roads dug up this summer as part of long-planned infrastructure projects. The ongoing natural gas- and water-related work has affected roads throughout downtown New Canaan, Public Works Director Tiger Mann said Monday. “We’re hoping in the springtime to come through and start to take care of the majority of the roads in and around the downtown area, or specifically from along South Avenue, between South and Main or South and Park,” he said during a regular meeting of the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure, held via videoconference. “We are hoping to satisfy all that and get our roads back, [get] these roads back in shape.”

Mann added that the overall pavement condition index or “PCI” of New Canaan’s public roads—a formula used to measure the quality of roadways—is “excellent.”

“Even with these roads here, we are at about an 84 and change, which is phenomenal, better than anyone else around us in Fairfield County,” he said. “The fact that everyone comes into the downtown and the downtown is not in great shape makes us look like we are not holding [up] our end of the bargain.”

The comments came during an update on building- and infrastructure-related projects throughout New Canaan. 

Mann said that the town has given the utility company an additional year to improve roads dug up for work such as the natural gas installation since 2020 was lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Downtown Disruption: Water Main, Natural Gas Work To Start This Week on Main and Elm

The utility company has about one week left in its work at Forest Street and Locust Avenue downtown, feeding natural gas lines to a new development there, according to the town’s public works director. Once Eversource is done there, the water company will commence work on a water main downtown, Tiger Mann said Monday during a regular meeting of the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure. Aquarion will work on two fronts, finishing its work at Church and Main Streets on Tuesday night, “and then they are going to be putting in a new main on Elm Street from Park to Grove [Streets],” Mann said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “And then the main will come down Cherry and take a left onto Main Street and run on Main Street to Locust Avenue. That work will be all at night.

First Selectman: Proposed Cell Tower in Northwestern New Canaan on Track for Approval by Year’s End

The town’s highest elected official said Monday that the cell tower proposed for northwestern New Canaan could be built in the first half of 2022. Planned for a wooded hill at Ponus Ridge and Dan’s Highway, the proposed cell tower application likely will go through an “accelerated process” because the state agency that fields such applications hasn’t been busy, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. “They are doing engineering work now and planning and then it will be packaged together to go to the Siting Council, my guess is by midsummer,” Moynihan said during a regular meeting of the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure, held via videoconference. “It took six months for Soundview Lane to get to the Siting Council but that was delayed because of the start of COVID, but I think probably a three-month process for the Siting Council. So I would hope we will have approval by by the end of the year and then construction in the first half of ’22.”

He spoke during a portion of the meeting dedicated to projects in New Canaan and in response to a question from committee member Stuart Sawabini regarding the status of the planned tower.