Around Town

Steve Benko Pool in Full Swing Amid Soaring Temps

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One of the biggest beneficiaries of the recent heat has been a favorite cool-down amenity in Waveny Park. Visitor numbers have skyrocketed at the Steve Benko Pool, though “it was pretty cold at the beginning of the season, so we didn’t have as many people coming out,” Recreation Department Recreation Supervisor/Aquatic Manager Steven Dayton said on a recent 90-degree morning. 

“As it’s gotten hotter, many more people have started to come regularly,” he said. The pool has seen roughly 27,000 people so far this summer, on pace to match last year’s 40,000, according to Dayton. In all, 1,117 resident memberships have been purchased for the pool, similar to last year’s number, Dayton said. Non-resident memberships (at higher rates) continue to be limited at 125.

Around Town

‘It’s a Beautiful Pool’: Residents Flock to Steve Benko Pool at Waveny Amid Heat, Humidity

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The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Carriage Barn Arts Center. With temperatures topping 90 degrees, and a feel temperature of more than 100 degrees, the Steve Benko Pool at Waveny is drawing hundreds of visitors on many days this summer. At midday recently, New Canaan resident Ally Pastushan joined dozens of other parents at the pool watching their kids compete in a meet between Newfield Swim Club and Waveny Gator Swim Team. “We love the pool, we moved to New Canaan about 12 years ago and the improvements they’ve made have been wonderful,” Pastushan said. “Between the big umbrellas they have, the fact that they provide chairs, the snack bar and everything, big improvements over where it was.” 

While the chairs, umbrellas, and snack bar all remain popular fixtures of the pool, John Howe, the director of the Parks and Recreation Department, said that the public will probably not realize the effort his department puts into keeping the pool open. 

“Unfortunately, not a lot of improvements that the public would see,” Howe said when asked about what changes have been made.

Board of Selectmen

Town Approves $114,000 Contract for Repairs at Steve Benko Pool

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The Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting approved a $114,235 contract with a Newtown-based company to make repairs to the Steve Benko Pool and kiddie pool in Waveny. The pump motor on the kiddie pool umbrella feature died over the summer and the town was “very fortunate to find one of three motors in the country to rebuild that pump,” Parks & Recreation Director John Howe told the selectmen at their Oct. 31 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “But the main pool has one pump that runs,” he said. “And if that pump ever goes down, we’d have to shut the pool down until a new pump is available.

Government

Pass Sales for ‘Steve Benko Pool’ Up for 2022 Season

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The Steve Benko Pool saw a 4.1% rise in total passes sold year-over-year in the 2022 season, which ran from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, parks officials say. This was “an incredible summer” at the pool, which saw 4,669 pass sales this year compared to 4483 in 2021, according to Parks & Recreation Commissioner Rona Siegel. “Everyone knows it was really hot,” she said during the Commission’s regular meeting, held Sept. 14 at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“One really great thing to note for the [pool] team: Not one full day was the pool closed, and usually historically there is something or some reason [the pool is closed]. So, pretty incredible.”

The town, as it has in years past, sold 100 family passes to nonresidents at an increased rate, Siegel said, and saw resident passes increase in all categories: families (920 vs.

Government

Town To Add Disabled Parking Spaces at Waveny, Mead

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved an approximately $27,000 contract with a Bridgeport-based company that will include removal and installation of line striping throughout town. Part of the work that Safety Marking Inc. will do under the $27,527.32 contract will add one disabled parking space at the Steve Benko Pool lot and create accessible spaces in the Mead Park Plaza lot and next to the softball field near the water tower at Waveny, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “At present, the Mead Park Plaza is not striped, so we’re trying to stripe it so we can actually delineate an accessible space and then try to quantify the spaces so try to maximize the use,” Mann told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“Right now, there’s about three cars that can park in there because of the way people are parking, we are looking at getting upwards of six with an accessible space and a location for a bike rack. At the Benko Pool we are going from four to five accessible spaces and then at the softball fields we actually added an accessible space on that side. So there were four spaces, we added an accessible space.