Government

Town Approves Contracts for New Lampposts at Center School Lot

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The Board of Selectmen during its most recent meeting approved a $97,743 contract with a Norwalk-based company for 23 new lampposts and fixtures for the Center School Lot that serves New Canaan Library. The town will re-use existing footings for lampposts in the busy lot while switching to a softer LED light that uses less voltage, according to Bill Oestmann, superintendent of buildings in the Department of Public Works. “We’re not going to dig up the parking lot,” he said at the Board’s meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Oestmann continued: “We’re going to actually go to the left and to the right of the entrance—so right across the library, where the lights end—we’re going continue from there and go right around the perimeter, put the new footings in, and then pull all the wiring.”

The wiring will go “through the grass,” Oestmann said, “so we’re not going to rip up any asphalt.”

The town also will be able to use existing conduits for the two “islands” in the lot. First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of the contract with F&M Electric Supply for 19 single and four twin lampposts.

Government

Town To Redo East Avenue Sidewalks; Seeking State Grant on Estimated $1 Million Project

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Town officials on Tuesday approved funds to kickstart improvements to the deteriorating East Avenue sidewalk that runs from downtown New Canaan to Route 123. The Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting voted unanimously in favor of a $16,500 contract with a Hartford-based engineering firm to prepare design documents for a state grant in what is expected to be an overall $1 million project that “entails the proposed enhancements to the existing sidewalk to address improved width, surface material and safety for the pedestrian,” Town Engineer Maria Coplit told the Board. 

“The current asphalt sidewalks are deteriorating and in need of replacement,” she said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. If the town is able to secure a Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program or “LOTCIP” grant from the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the all-in cost to the municipality for the work is expected to be about $100,000, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The figure includes the contract with Fuss & O’Neill as well as survey and engineering work on East Avenue, he said. The selectmen agreed that the work is needed.

Government

Selectmen Raise Standalone Contract Approval Minimum from $10,000 to $15,000

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With little discussion, the Board of Selectmen this week decided to raise the minimum amount of contracts that require approval as standalone items at public meetings by half again as much. In recent years, the selectmen during bimonthly meetings have dedicated an agenda item and discussion to all contracts of more than $10,000 that require approval from their elected body, while contracts valued at $10,000 or less are approved in a block vote, nearly always with no public discussion. On Tuesday, First Selectman Dionna Carlson suggested upping that minimum to $15,000. “I know that in prior meetings there’s been a request to increase the threshold for contracts to come to us above the $10,000 dollar level,” Carlson said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “So we thought in an incremental stage to move it to $15,000 and so wanted to get your approval to do that.”

Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll readily agreed and the trio voted 3-0 in favor of the change after about 74 seconds of discussion.

Board of Selectmen

‘This Is Outrageous’: Selectmen Blast State’s Contractor as Water Main Project Faces More Delays; Repaving of South Avenue Up in the Air

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Town officials on Tuesday loudly criticized a years-long Aquarion water company project overseen by the state that’s already caused major inconvenience to New Canaan residents, saying that now South Avenue may not be repaved until next year. Made public in 2019 and launched in 2022 with a planned three-year schedule, Aquarion’s water main installation started on the eastern edge of New Canaan—along Route 106 at the Wilton line—and then wound its way past Lakeview Cemetery and up Harrison Avenue to South Avenue, where it’s running to Farm Road. Public Works officials said this summer that the project was entering its final phase, yet the repaving of South Avenue, which doubles as state Route 124, had to be pushed into the school year due to a six-week delay in Wilton from the contractor, Bridgeport-based Waters Construction Co. The town then worked out a compromise where Waters was to work for four straight Saturdays, doing trench restoration work and then milling and paving South Avenue from Harrison to Farm Road. Yet the contractor ignored the set schedule of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., starting instead at 6:50 a.m. on a recent Saturday and making the state “furious” enough to halt that road work altogether, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann.

Government

Town: Green Grass Expected Late Fall at Irwin House Demo Site

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Town officials on Tuesday approved another $84,000 for the remediation of contaminated soils at the former Irwin House site. The funds—to be paid to the Stamford Wrecking Company following a 3-0 vote by the Board of Selectmen—hopefully will be the final payment in a demolition and abatement project budgeted for about $770,000 all in, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. The overall project is coming in about $29,000 over that spending plan, he told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Asked when the public can expect to see green grass on the site of the former Irwin House, Zagarenski said in October-November — so long as no further contaminants turn up. “I don’t suspect we’re going to find anything, but if we’re trying to find the clean limits and we hit into another area that’s [contaminated]—I don’t see it, I don’t foresee it happening, but there is that [chance],” he said.