Government

Commercial Property Owner to Town: Include Us in Plans for the Alley Next to The Playhouse

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The owners of a commercial property that backs up to The Playhouse parking lot and a staircase that leads to an alley running along the eastern side of the movie theater are asking to be included in any discussions of improvements there. With the widely anticipated Playhouse project weeks from completion—town officials have targeted the month of May—Terry Spring, a managing member of Cody Real Estate LLC, said she’s “particularly interested in future plans for this alley as it is such an important town right-of-way between parking lots, Elm Street and potentially our property.”

“We have a significant interest in this town right-of-way and have not been contacted by the town to review details before the matter is voted on,” Spring said in a letter that was read into the record during the March 19 Board of Selectmen meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. She continued: “We are concerned in connection with the final location and use of the garbage compactor recently located nearby at the top of the stairs to the alley, bordering our rear property line. We ask respectfully if your vote on these two items can be delayed until we have the opportunity to sit down with the town to look over the plans for the use of this of this alley, which we are glad to see underway but have not yet had an opportunity to consider any negative effects it might have on our property.”

Spring specifically referred to two items on the agenda for the selectmen meeting. One of them, an approximately $7,500 contract with a local architecture firm for “additional structural engineering services for steel connections at the Playhouse Theater” was removed from the agenda. 

The selectmen did approve an approximately $9,000 contract for the other item, which will see a New Canaan-based company install a concrete sidewalk in the alley on the other (western) side of the Playhouse.

Business

Property Owner: Ice Cream Purveyor Finalizing Lease for Former Baskin Robbins Space

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The owner of the Main Street building long occupied by Baskin Robbins said she’s finalizing an agreement that will see a different ice cream purveyor move into the commercial space. Former site of the iconic Gramophone Shop music store, 103 Main St. since 2002 has been occupied by Baskin Robbins, which owner Anna Valente-Krolikowski closed Saturday. Terry Spring of Cody Real Estate LLC said the ownership company is “in the process of finalizing a lease with another ice cream store.”

“We have been working with Anna on this, she has done such a great job and will be a hard act to follow,” Spring told NewCanaanite.com in an email. “We will announce soon.”

Cody Real Estate LLC also owns 97 Main St.

4 Main St.

At Meeting That Turned Testy, Officials Voice Support for Plan To Restore and Rebuild God’s Acre Home 

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Saying a New Canaan builder has been collaborative and respectful of local history, officials on Tuesday voiced support for a plan to preserve much of an antique home on God’s Acre while rebuilding the rest of the house. Though members of the Historic District Commission for technical reasons (cited during a testy exchange, see below) stopped short of voting on whether to immediately approve a “Certificate of Appropriateness” for Karp Associates’ plan for the Greek Revival at 4 Main St., they applauded the firm’s decision to keep more than two-thirds of the original home. “It’s been noticed that you have gone above and beyond in your effort to keep the large majority of the antique house, all of the facade that is visible from the street—two facades, the 26-foot front and 30-foot side and the roof—and that you have also kept certain interior features which are out of our jurisdiction,” Commission Vice Chairman Marty Skrelunas said during the appointed body’s special meeting, held at Town Hall. He addressed Arnold Karp, president of Karp Associates, and COO Paul Stone, both in attendance. Skrelunas and Commissioner Mark Markiewicz had formed a subcommittee that worked with Karp’s team and architect Christopher Hull of Fairfield-based CAH Architecture and Design LLC for more than one month on plans for the prominent property.

Government

Tense Meeting Yields New Officer on Key Municipal Group

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The volunteer municipal body that oversees the preservation of New Canaan’s historic district—God’s Acre and the buildings around it—had a new officer appointed to its commission during an odd, tense meeting Thursday. The former secretary of the Historic District Commission, Terry Spring, who had served on the five-member group since 2005, wasn’t reappointed by town officials earlier in the week. Instead, the Board of Selectmen appointed alternate Carl Rothbart as a regular member. Spring’s ousting meant that a new secretary had to be elected. Yet she attended the commission’s Jan.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The Board of Selectmen said this week that New Canaan has paid about $5,390 in legal fees this fiscal year and nearly $19,000 overall for advice regarding the sober house on West Road. ***

Straight Outta Maple: We received the photo at right—depicting Jack Trifero and Terry Spring, arrested last week after refusing to leave the burial ground alongside the Merritt Village condo-and-apartment development on Maple and Park Streets—with a caption reading that the pair were “carrying the ONLY weapon they had at their unlawful arrest, a zoning map of the Maple Street Cemetery.” Trifero also supplied his statement to police in which he said an owner of the property threw rocks at him and one hit his leg. “I feel he was also throwing them at Terry—so I was concerned. After about 5 or 6 stones, he stopped. I felt it was an unprovoked violent act.”

***

New Canaan Police at about 6 p.m. on Sept.