News

Newest New Canaan Police Officer Sworn In; Tam Receives ‘Officer of the Year Award’; 8 Officers, 3 Civilians Honored

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The New Canaan Police Department on Tuesday recognized eight officers and three civilians for outstanding service to the community during a ceremony that also saw the agency’s newest member sworn in by the town clerk. In addressing Nicole Vartuli, a Stamford native and Westhill High School graduate who is poised for training at the Connecticut Police Academy this year with an expectation that she will undergo field training with NCPD through the early part of 2018, Chief Leon Krolikowski said that “badge you were just issued represents public trust.”

“The public willingly puts this work in your hands and trusts that you will take care of them in the proper manner,” Krolikowski said moments after Vartuli had been sworn in by Town Clerk Claudia Weber. “They do not want this responsibility for themselves. My charge to you today is to do just that: Get it right. We have all heard about the stories of officers who have gotten it wrong.

Government

‘I Fear for My Life’: Silvermine Residents Seek More Substantial Changes To Slow Motor Vehicle Traffic in Neighborhood

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Though officials two months ago lowered the speed limit on Silvermine Road from 30 to 25 mph, motor vehicle traffic still whizzes through the neighborhood and its increasingly popular, pedestrian-oriented commercial area, residents said last week. Describing Silvermine as unique in that it has its own market, arts center and soon-to-reopen inn and restaurant, residents told members of the Police Commission at their regular meeting that more must be done in order to reduce the speed of cars and trucks to safe levels. Mark Thorsheim said that reducing the speed limit hasn’t changed the behavior of drivers. “There need to be physical infrastructure changes beyond the 25 mph,” he told members of the Police Commission at their June 14 meeting, held in the New Canaan Police Department’s training room. “Silvermine, the road, the neighborhood is different than other roads.

News

‘A Major Setback’: New Canaan Officials Withdraw Application for Monopole in Stamford To Improve Public Safety Radio Coverage

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Facing opposition from neighborhood residents, town officials said Wednesday that they’re withdrawing an application to erect a tower just over the Stamford border that had been designed to improve emergency radio communications in northwestern New Canaan. The decision followed conversations that included the highest elected officials of both municipalities and a city representative of the north Stamford residents who live near a proposed monopole on Aquarion property, according to New Canaan Police Commission Chairman Stuart Sawabini. The upshot was that “it would be extremely unlikely that the city of Stamford would ever approve an antenna” on the corner of Reservoir Lane and Laurel Road (see map below), Sawabini said during a regular meeting of the Police Commission. The development “was a major setback, sadly,” Sawabini said at the meeting, held in the training room at the New Canaan Police Department. “We have other locations that we had considered and rejected, but that we are reopening for reconsideration.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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New Canaan High School took in about $47,000 at the 2016 Turkey Bowl, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi told members of the Town Council this week. ***

Originally scheduled to arrive this week, the amended zoning permit application from Grace Farms now is not expected to arrive until March 27 for review next month, officials said. ***

The Police Commission voted 3-0 on Wednesday night to approve the Pop Up Park’s proposed dates of operation for the summer of 2017—continuously, from July 16 to Sept. 4. ***

New Canaan Police Department Animal Control Officer Allyson Halm already is out of the “coyote safety kits” she put together for residents last month, and there are 24 people on a waiting list for more.

News

‘It’s a Bad Situation’: SUV Parked Regularly Near Lakeview and Main Causes Line-of-Sight Problem

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Officials say they’re asking a legally parked motorist to move his SUV away from a heavily used intersection in town because it blocks the line of sight for cars seeking to make a tough left-hand turn. The silver SUV with New York plates is parked nightly on the east side of Main Street just north of the intersection of Lakeview Avenue—in front of the Hanford Square condos, according to residents who attended the most recent meeting of the Police Commission. Motorists approaching the top of Lakeview at Main cannot see southbound traffic until they’ve pulled past the stop line and into the road, according to town resident Chris Hussey. “It’s a bad situation, if I may say,” she said at the Jan. 18 meeting, held at the New Canaan Police Department.