‘We Are Going To Ask Residents To Be Very Understanding’: Natural Gas, Water Main Work Planned for Downtown

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Calling this “the year of infrastructure in the downtown area,” the head of the New Canaan Department of Public Works said Monday that officials will ask for understanding from locals as long-planned and necessary water main, natural gas and sewer work gets underway. Within the next week or so, Aquarion will start a water main installation on Main Street from Oak to Church Streets, then up Church to South Avenue and into the downtown, Public Works Director Tiger Mann said during a regular meeting of the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure. The main will run from the intersection of South and Cherry to Main Street and then all the way up Main to Locust Avenue, Mann said. “So that entire downtown stretch, that kind of two-block, three-block stretch in the downtown, is going to be kind of difficult,” he said during the meeting, held via videoconference. 

At the same time, Eversource will be installing a natural gas line on Main Street between East and Locust Avenues, and then down Locust to Forest Street, he said. Once they’re done, the town will commence sewer work.

Bill Oestmann

Moynihan: Town Likely To Announce New Movie Theater Operator Next Month

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New Canaan’s highest-elected official said Monday that the town likely will make an announcement next month regarding a new operator for the movie theater downtown. Town officials “will probably have an April announcement” on the Playhouse on Elm Street, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. “We have several active discussions going for reopening the movie theater,” he said during a regular meeting of the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure. “Maybe April is optimistic, but at least it’s in the works,” Moynihan said. The theater was ordered closed one year ago as the COVID-19 pandemic set in, and Bow Tie Cinemas then terminated its lease agreement.

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Town: Rebuilt or Relocated Animal Shelter At Least One Year Away

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A project to rebuild or relocate New Canaan’s Animal Control shelter is at least one year away, town officials said this week. The town is studying different possibilities for a future shelter, including use of a building at Kiwanis Park, Public Works Director Tiger Mann told members of the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure during their regular meeting Monday. “The other thought that was if we were to remove the existing incinerator where it [the animal shelter] is currently housed, to then bring in a facility there,” Mann said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “Or, since it is a police function, possibly bringing it over to the Police Department. So we are looking at all options at present.

Government

Town: Natural Gas Should Come This Summer to Town Hall, Fire Station, Waveny Pool

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The town has converted three of its buildings to natural gas and has plans this winter for three more before moving on to prominent structures such as Town Hall, the Fire Department and Waveny Pool, officials say. In addition to four of five New Canaan schools, the town has converted a garage at Saxe Middle School, the Police Department and Schoolhouse Apartments, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. Next up are the DPW highway garage, scale house and the control building at the wastewater treatment facility, Mann told members of the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure during their regular meeting Monday. Later this summer, the utility company is expected to run gas lines along Main Street so that Town Hall, the former Outback Teen Center building and fire station can be converted, “then we are in the works, discussing with Eversource about bringing a line into Waveny which will bring online the pool itself, the paddle hut and then Lapham Community Center,” Mann said at the meeting, held via videoconference. “The rest of the facilities at Waveny—the distance to, say, Waveny House or the Powerhouse or the Carriage Barn—is about half a mile of piping.

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Town Plans New Children’s Playground at Waveny

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Public works officials say they plan to request funding in upcoming budget talks for a new children’s playground at Waveny. It would be located near an existing exercise equipment area that also is due for an upgrade, Public Works Director Tiger Mann told members of the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure during their regular meeting Monday. “The existing exercise equipment next to the large parking lot at Waveny needs to be replaced and we are looking at putting in a children’s playground, as well, at the exact same time, adjacent to that,” Mann said during the meeting, held via videoconference. According to a draft DPW budget document that Mann shared, the combined cost of replacing the exercise equipment and installing a new playground at Waveny is $429,000. It is one of several parks- and fields-related bonding requests that Public Works plans to make for capital projects funded in fiscal year 2022.