Around Town

Wednesday Night ‘Summer Concert Series’ at Waveny To Kick Off June 21

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One of New Canaan’s most beloved summertime traditions is set to go, following a vote by the Board of Selectmen durings its regular meeting Tuesday. The Wednesday night Summer Concert Series at Waveny will feature 11 shows this season, according to Parks & Recreation Director John Howe. The free outdoor concerts, where attendees bring foldout chairs and sit under a setting sun out back of Waveny House, will kick off June 21 and run through Aug. 30, according to Recreation Supervisor/Aquatic Manager Steve Dayton. Howe said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference,, “They are well attended, as you know, especially on a beautiful night.

Board of Selectmen

Town Council Pushes Back on West School Cell Tower; ‘Option B’ Proposal Coming

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Members of New Canaan’s legislative body say they will not support a plan to erect a cell tower about 900 feet behind West School (and 600 feet from its playing fields), though they’re expecting the town’s highest elected official to come forward with an alternative proposal in the area. Town Council Chair Steve Karl noted in comments during the elected body’s March 14 meeting that “the Council is definitely exhausted on ‘Option A’ at the West tower.”

“We’ve sent that message loud and clear,” Karl said. “I think we’re all in agreement that Option A is a non-starter. But we are told that there may be an ‘Option B’ coming our way. That could be discussed as early as the end of April, so we’ll wait for that to come our way.

Around Town

PHOTOS, VIDEO: ‘New’ New Canaan Library Opens to the Public

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Some day soon—“it could even be today,” Town Council Chair Steve Karl said Tuesday morning, addressing a crowd of 300-plus people gathered outside the new New Canaan Library—a boy or girl “will walk through these doors and learn to read for the first time.”

“They’ll be holding their parents’ hands, and when they leave here they may leave with a book in the other hand,” Karl said. “Their eyes will be open and they will begin a journey of learning that will last a lifetime. It’s been a magical journey on the corner of Main and Cherry for 100 years now. I actually learned to read here, as well. When the ribbon is cut in a few short minutes, it will represent hundreds of thousands of hours in long-range planning, thoughtful design, hard work, gritty determination and literally a small army of people putting this together.”

More than three years after library officials unveiled a vision for a dramatically reimagined facility and campus, New Canaan Library opened its doors at 9 a.m. on Feb.

Board of Selectmen

Editorial: ‘Checks and Balances’ at Town Hall

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New Canaan owes a debt of gratitude to Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams for showing real leadership in recent months. What may be mischaracterized by some as political infighting—a series of 2-1 votes with First Selectman Kevin Moynihan in the minority—is, in fact, a sign that our local government is functioning as designed. Though checks and balances are built into the Board of Selectmen as a three-person elected body, putting the single-minded Moynihan in check still takes real fortitude and resolve, especially with a first selectman who has appeared increasingly unstable. We’d seen flashes of Moynihan’s anger and petulance in the past—for example, when he twice physically handled Williams during an October 2021 Board meeting after the latter poked holes in the first selectman’s arguments for building a new police station on a Saxe Middle School playing field, prompting Williams to tell him, “Stop pushing me.” Or the following month, when he denied Corbet’s simple request to move a Board meeting back one day, and—tellingly—described her request as a Code of Ethics violation when, we found out later, he himself was the subject of a newly filed ethics complaint. But it wasn’t until the second half of last year that Corbet and Williams were compelled to consistently manage Moynihan.

Board of Selectmen

Moynihan Thwarted in Attempt To Deny New Term for Police Commissioner 

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During a tense and highly unusual meeting Tuesday, New Canaan’s highest elected official was outvoted 2-1 by fellow members of the Board of Selectmen, who reappointed a long-serving volunteer on a prominent municipal body. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said he’d spoken two weeks ago with Police Commission Chair Paul Foley, whose most recent term on the appointed body technically ended Dec. 1. 

“I have other candidates who want to serve on the Police Commission,” Moynihan said during Tuesday’s selectmen meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “Paul has served well. I asked him to step aside… I just think it’s time, and Paul increasingly spends most of his time in Florida.