Government

Wet Weather Delays Work on Alley Between Playhouse and LPQ

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Town officials say they’re trying to wrap up work on the alley between The Playhouse and Le Pain Quotidien so that it’s open to shoppers during the holiday season. Closed for the past month, the alley—or ‘allée,’ as it’s called by the Department of Public Works—is getting a new ramp and staircase connecting the Playhouse Lot to Elm Street. In addition to making the alley traversable to those with mobility challenges, the ramp is expected to help move delivery trucks off of Elm Street itself—part of a multi-phased plan to help traffic flow in the heart of downtown New Canaan. Yet the project is still “at least two pours away,” Public Works Director Tiger Mann said, referring to concrete. “They’re getting close to the secondary pour for the staircase itself,” Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting, held Tuesday at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Government

Town Adds ‘Veterans’ Category to Discounts at Popular Facilities

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Municipal officials are adding a new category to those who get discounted fees for using popular town facilities such as the Steve Benko Pool at Waveny and pickleball courts at Mead Park. Following a unanimous vote by the Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting, veterans will now enjoy the same discounts as seniors, including free access to Kiwanis Park and $80 season passes to the pool, Mead Park pickleball and tennis courts and Waveny paddle tennis courts. Parks & Recreation Director John Howe, in proposing an updated slate of fees to the selectmen at the Nov. 18 meeting, called it “the biggest change” to the rates. “We added a ‘veterans pass’ where we’ll give veterans a discount to the regular individual rates,” Howe told the selectmen at the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Board of Selectmen

New Handheld License Plate Readers To Help with Parking Enforcement on Elm and South

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Town officials last week approved a free month-long trial and possibly longer contract with a Charlotte, N.C.-based company that will see parking enforcement officers get new handheld license plate readers or ‘LPRs.’

As it is, the enforcement officers are required to manually enter license plate numbers as they patrol the newly designated paid parking areas of Elm Street and South Avenue and “it’s getting very time-consuming,” according to Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg. 

“If they have this handheld and they’re just scanning it as they’re walking, they’re not blocking anything—they’re not causing any kind of traffic,” Miltenberg told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held Nov. 18 at Town Hall and via videoconference. She added that the town’s parking enforcement officers are “finding that by the time they get to one end of the street, they have to go back to the other end because [new] people are parking and it’s just not efficient.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of an amendment to the Parking Bureau’s contract with Passport Labs Inc. The company currently provides the town with its parking software program and equipment for enforcement and ticketing and permitting. After a free one-month trial, it would cost $500 per month to continue with the devices, and the selectmen vote allows the town to move into the paid plan. The selectmen asked how many license plate readers the Parking Bureau currently has (two but they’re on the vehicles), whether the contract is for $500 per handheld device or total (total), how long it will switch over (about one week), what’s the cancellation policy (cancel any time), whether the town is getting new devices or if Passport Labs is just opening up its software (both, the Parking Bureau is due for a device upgrade regardless), whether other towns are using the handheld LPRs (no but Darien is interested) and whether the handheld readers are storing data (no, it will work like the current LPRs, scrubbed every 30 days).

Around Town

Conservancy Plans ‘Merritt Parkway Trail’ Improvements in Waveny

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The nonprofit organization that works to ensure that New Canaan’s most popular park continues to thrive has a plan to improve one of its major walking trails. The southernmost trail at Waveny—running about .75 miles alongside the Merritt Parkway, from the Lapham Road overpass to the Exit 37 (now 14) southbound on/off ramps—is exposed to the state road at multiple points. For Waveny walkers, that exposure can disrupt visitors’ enjoyment of nature by spoiling the woodland view and bringing in motor vehicle noise, according to the Waveny Park Conservancy. “Let’s move it away, move the trail away from the highway, and get all this buffer from additional woodlands,” the Conservancy’s board chair, Fell Herdeg, told members of the Board of Selectmen last week. “And then put some of the design ethos back in there from the Olmsted Brothers.

Government

Selectmen Vote 2-1 in Favor of Inland Wetlands Commission Appointment

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In what is typically a quick approval, the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday cast a divided vote in appointing a resident as a regular member of one of the municipality’s volunteer commissions. First Selectman Dionna Carlson, while introducing an item to appoint Don Mastronardi to the Inland Wetlands Commission, noted that she had spoken with the candidate “because he has been unable to attend regularly as an alternate member.”

“And he said that he was having some staffing issues at his businesses, but that that issue has been resolved,” Carlson said during the selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “And I explained to him that attendance is mandatory. That if you miss too many meetings that this Board can take you up to say that we would like you to step down.”

Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll said she wasn’t comfortable voting in favor of Mastronardi’s appointment as a regular member because of his attendance record as an alternate on the Commission. “People in this town are very generous with their time and we appreciate it, but when people raise their hand to be on a board, even as an alternate, it is the expectation that you participate,” Murphy Carroll said.