Government

Town Approves $46,000 Contract To Replace Part of Maple Street Sidewalk Opposite Library

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Town officials on Tuesday approved an approximately $46,000 contract with a Stratford-based company to replace parts of a sidewalk on Maple Street across from New Canaan Library. The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously in favor of the $45,908 contract with Dalling Construction. 

Some of the sidewalks on Maple Street between Main Street and South Avenue “are not part of the library construction project but should be done,” according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “They have not been done since the Center School parking lot was installed,” Mann told the selectmen during their regular meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “It’s a concrete sidewalk with an asphalt overlay. So the library has to take care of the north side of Maple Street and a portion of the south side of Maple Street around the Center parking lot entranceway.

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Town Officials Call for Improved Pedestrian Crosswalks with Uniform Countdown Timers, Audible Signals

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Officials say they’re looking to install new pedestrian signals at crosswalks in New Canaan that will include a “countdown” timer for those seeking to cross the street as well as an audible signal for the visually impaired. There’s little consistency in how the crosswalk signals in town function, according to New Canaan Police Department Community Impact Officer Nicole Vartuli, who focuses on the downtown in her role. 

Vartuli told members of the Police Commission at their Sept. 21 meeting that she received a complaint from a blind resident regarding the crossing signals at Cherry Street and East Avenue, and that prompted her to look at other areas. “I noticed they were not uniform and they looked different—some had audible, some did not,” Vartuli said at the meeting, held at police headquarters and via videoconference. 

Pedestrian fatalities are rising each year and have doubled since 2013, Vartuli said, due to quieter electric vehicles and increased distracted driving. 

Vartuli said she connected with Public Works Director Tiger Mann and then put together a proposal for the Commission regarding the crosswalks. It calls for the town to look at eight downtown locations, Mann said, six of which are state-owned and two of which are owned by the town (at Park and Elm Streets, and at Park and Pine Streets).

Government

Wetland Boardwalk Proposed for Irwin Park

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a $13,300 contract with a local firm to do survey work at Irwin Park for a proposed wetland boardwalk. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of the contract with RKW Land Surveying during its regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

The planned board was approved during the last budget season, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “We had the area flagged for wetlands by William Kenny Associates,” he told the selectmen. “And we need to pick the flagging up and do some additional survey work and topographic work, things of that nature, of the area in concern.”

RKW had done the base mapping and original survey at the time New Canaan purchased the Irwin property, Mann said. 

“We’d like to engage them to do this work and then update that mapping,” he said. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted in favor of the contract. 

The selectmen asked whether the project had been considered for American Rescue Plan Act funding (no), why not (not sure), what is the total cost of the project when land surveying is included (the budget was about $175,000 but some is coming from DPW operating) and where the proposed wetlands boardwalk would go exactly (in the southwest corner of Irwin, mann said, “As you head up the hillside where the Flexi-pave trail is, you go past where the goats were and head up the hill, that area is wetlands in back”).

Government

Town Approves Contract Extension To Complete Repair of Stone Wall at Waveny

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a $20,000 contract extension with the master stonemason who has been repairing the fieldstone wall along Lapham Road at Waveny. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of the contract with Greg Faillacci, who started his work at the southern end of the wall and worked his way north. “At a certain point in time, I jumped ahead to do the area right in and around the pool right before the dedication for Steve [Benko], because I wanted to have that all beautified,” Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “That came out really, really nice and now we have a remaining section between where he stopped basically at the access road to the paddle courts and the pool road.”

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted in favor of the extension. The Board already had approved $40,000 in work in $10,000 increments. 

There also is a “small stretch in front of the leaf mulch site down to the trailhead,” Mann said, and the Waveny Park Conservancy is taking care of that.

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Town Seeks To Repair ‘Wayside Cross’ at God’s Acre Before Veterans Day [CORRECTION]

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CORRECTION: The town and Congregational Church of New Canaan, together, have been working to identify a contractor to repair the Wayside Cross. NewCanaanite.com should have included the church’s role in the original story. Asked for an overview of the church’s collaboration, the Rev. Dr. Stephen Chapin Garner said in an email, “We have had serval good, productive meetings to date, including meetings with monument companies. Most importantly, we are grateful no one was hurt in the accident when the Town of New Canaan Police Cruiser hit the Wayside Cross, and we expect to continue to have an amicable working relationship with the Town to repair this important and historic town treasure honoring our World War I veterans.” Original Article

The town is in the process of selecting a contractor to repair a World War I monument at the foot of God’s Acre that was damaged last month during a police pursuit. 

Officials are seeking companies that have experience with larger monuments “because I think that’s a dying art,” Public Works Director Tiger Manns said when asked about the status of the Wayside Cross.