Cristina A. Ross

West School Cell Tower: Town Council Calls for ‘Active’ Utilities Commission

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In a blow to the town’s highest elected official, New Canaan’s legislative body asserted last week that the town needs an active volunteer commission that advises on utilities. Weeks into his first term in 2017, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said that he wished to dissolve the Utilities Commission while tackling cell coverage in New Canaan himself. 

Since then, Moynihan has brought no one forward to populate the six-person commission, which is down to three members—not enough to qualify as a quorum—and hasn’t posted a meeting agenda in four years. 

This summer, after it became known that Moynihan was planning to erect a cell tower behind West School, fellow members of the Board of Selectmen pushed back. In October, when Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams called for the reinstitution of the Utilities Commission, Moynihan said he didn’t “see the need” for it. 

Even so, Corbet and Williams this month pushed again for a reactivated Utilities Commission. 

And last week, the Town Council voted unanimously during an informal straw poll that New Canaan needs an active Utilities Commission and that the Council will do whatever is necessary to flesh that out, including taking input from the Board of Selectmen. “Right now, as we have a very active first selectman—he is having the thought process and the meetings that are not public meetings,” Councilman Cristina A. Ross said during the elected body’s Dec. 14 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Bill Oestmann

Town Council To Solicit Public Input on Plans for Playhouse on June 23, 29

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The town will hold two meetings this month to solicit public input on a plan to have a New Jersey-based company operate the Playhouse on Elm Street. The movie theater closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic, and became available to a new tenant nine months later, when Bow Tie Cinemas terminated its lease. Over the past several months, the town has been working toward a proposed lease agreement with Montclair, N.J. Cinema Lab. The discussions have been held out of the public eye, with the town claiming an exemption from Connecticut Freedom of Information Act under the “real estate” category. Yet during last week’s regular meeting of the Town Council, details of the proposal with Cinema Lab were made public, and the legislative body scheduled public hearings at 7 p.m. on June 23 and 29, both in-person at Town Hall and via videoconference, to take public comments.

Around Town

‘I Know He’s Thrilled’: New Canaan Dedicates ‘Steve Benko Pool’ at Waveny

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The architects’ original specifications for the popular community pool in Waveny Park were for a certified Olympic competition pool that could play host to official state, regional and national swim meets, according to Steve Karl. Citing an anecdote from Assistant Recreation Director Bill Kapp, Karl told more than 200 people gathered poolside Saturday morning that Steve Benko immediately objected to those plans “because the shallow end of the pool was about 20 feet long at a depth of six feet, and sloping much deeper to the diving well end.”

“Steve realized as a municipal pool, we had to have a shallow end three-and-a-half to four feet deep so that kids and teens could stand up,” Karl continued. “The battle would continue as the architects refused to build a custom pool. Steve also objected to the length of the shallow end, that it was too small, and mandated that the shallow end should be at least doubled in size, and the entire slope of the pool would be would be re-engineered. This was because as a municipal pool we had to accommodate most of the public to enjoy the shallow end.

Around Town

Dedication of ‘Steve Benko Pool’ Set for Saturday, June 4

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Town officials this month voted unanimously to approve a June 4 ceremony to honor and memorialize one of New Canaan’s most recognizable, well-liked and dedicated residents. The Parks & Recreation Commission at its May 11 meeting voted 7-0 to approve a plan to dedicate the “Steve Benko Pool” in Waveny on the morning of Saturday, June 4. “I think it’s wonderful,” Chair George Benington said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “Steve Karl and Robin [Bates Mason] have worked really hard to put this together.”

Benko died Feb. 12 after a brief battle with cancer.

Around Town

‘Tireless Caring, Devotion and Love’: Friends Remember Steve Benko; Town Renames Waveny Pool in His Honor

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Bea Watkins got to know Steve Benko at New Canaan High School in the late-1960s, and for the last 11 years has worked for him as office manager of the town’s Recreation Department. There at the Rec offices in Waveny House, they often reminisced about mutual friends, parties and weddings, as well as Watkins’s brother, Lem, who’d worked for Benko one summer years ago. “I have always been in awe of Steve’s work ethic and proud to be on his team,” Watkins told NewCanaanite.com in an email when asked for her thoughts on Benko. “He always took such pride in everything he and our crew has had to accomplish for the residents in terms of activities, programs, and facilities. With the recent influx of new residents who continue to voice how astonished they are with all that the Recreation Department and the town has to offer, I know that it is largely due to the hard work and effort of Steve.”

Calling Benko “Mr. New Canaan,” Watkins remembered her friend as singularly passionate about the town and what it offers. “I always enjoyed sharing thoughts and ideas with Steve and a good argument was exciting as well,” she said.