Government

Town Hires Engineering Firm To Design New Sidewalk from Mead Park Exit to Marshall Ridge Road

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Town officials last week approved a $16,000 contract for survey and design services from a Bridgeport-based engineering firm for a new sidewalk to run up the hill from the exit of Mead Park toward Weed Street. About 70 families in the area signed a petition requesting the sidewalk, which will run along the south side of Richmond Hill Road up to Marshall Ridge Road, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The town in a 2003 update to its guiding document for land use—the Plan of Conservation and Development or ‘POCD’—said it would “try to connect everyone to our greenways and to our parks,” Mann told the Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting, held Jan. 8 at Town Hall. 

“And this fits within not only the expansion of sidewalks from 2003 but also the though from the 2014 POCD to try to bring more people into the downtown area and the train station,” Mann said. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectman Kit Devereaux voted 2-0 in favor of the contract, with Cabezas- DeAngelis Engineers & Surveyors.

Government

Town Pursues State Grant To Fund Elm-To-Irwin Sidewalk on Weed Street

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Town officials say they plan to apply for a state grant that would fund the creation of a new sidewalk that would connect the top of Elm Street to Irwin Park. The Board of Finance at its regular meeting Tuesday night will hear a request from town officials to apply for a $150,000 Responsible Growth and Transit-Oriented Development grant for the long-discussed project. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi noted that the sidewalk is in line with New Canaan’s Plan of Conservation and Development, in that it would help create a pedestrian-friendly connection between the business district and a town park. The sidewalk would run along the west side of Weed Street and, according to preliminary engineering plans (see PDF below), could involve removing one row of maple trees and a tree stump, and relocating a set of mailboxes at Woods End Road. The sidewalk wouldn’t run up against the roadway but would have a “grass shelf” between it and Weed Street, officials have said.

Government

New Crosswalk Opens Safe Pedestrian Routes for Old Kings Highway Residents

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Residents of Old Kings Highway now have a safe pedestrian walkway that connects them to the new sidewalk near the entrance to Kiwanis Park and, ultimately, Main Street and downtown. The Police Commission at its most recent meeting unanimously approved a new crosswalk across Old Norwalk Road at Old Kings Highway. The crosswalk hooks up to a wooded trail that skirts the edge of Kiwanis Park and lets out near its entrance, where a sidewalk completed last year runs up to Main Street. Police Capt. John DiFederico said at the commission’s Sept. 15 meeting that residents of the area had requested the crosswalk last year.

Government

New Sidewalk Coming to Heritage Hill Road; Project ‘Jibes Beautifully’ with Plans for Locust Lot, Officials Say

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Residents of the condominiums on both sides of Heritage Hill Road soon will have a continuous sidewalk to Main Street, following town officials’ approval last week of an approximately $90,000 contract with a Norwalk company. The Board of Selectmen approved a contract with Grasso Companies LLC to install a new sidewalk that will run east from Husted Lane to an existing sidewalk on the south side of the street. Funds for the project will be drawn from a $215,000 state grant—New Canaan is one of 14 Connecticut towns that received a grant in 2013 from the Main Street Investment Fund. In requesting approval of the contract, Department of Public Works Assistant Director Tiger Mann told the selectmen that the sidewalk installation has been on area residents’ radar. “This is a stretch that was asked for and requested by the residents and thankfully it was included in this Main Street Improvement Grant,” Mann said at the meeting, held Tuesday in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department.

Government

Brick Sidewalk, Dumpster Screening Planned for Park Street between Cherry and Elm

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New Canaanites disembarking from the train station may have a nicer first view of the town than the dumpsters by the alley next to Starbucks. Along with plans for a new brick sidewalk on the east side of Park Street between Elm and Cherry, a sliding gate would be installed at the bottom of the alley—long known as ‘Elm Court’ (its green street sign post remains, though the sign is gone)—that screens the dumpsters from view. According to Department of Works Assistant Director and Downtown Captain Tiger Mann, who conceived of the gate, it will not block access to the alley for vehicles such as garbage trucks that need to get there, but will serve to shield off the alley from view when not in use. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said Tuesday during a Board of Selectmen meeting that the area looks “sloppy” at the moment. “When you get off the train now, that area in front of Starbucks that has a kind of wall and some patchy sidewalk in front of the Radio Shack and CVS and all that, [now it] will get the same look as the rest of downtown,” Mallozzi said at the meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department.