News

Fencing at Irwin House Site Expected Down at Month’s End, Town Says

By |

The Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. The fencing surrounding the former house at Irwin Park is expected to come down this month, Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the Board of Selectmen during a regular meeting held last week at Town Hall. Mann said the town received revised disposal pricing for the remediation work on Tuesday morning, which starts the clock on a final three week process to complete the project. “Three weeks from now you should be taking down the fencing,” he said at the July 7 selectmen meeting. The Irwin House site has been fenced off for longer than originally anticipated, the result of a series of delays from the discovery of an unexpected underground storage tank on the property. 

The tank, the third found at the site, was undocumented and went unknown until demolition of Irwin House and its garage got underway last year.

Government

Town: Waveny House Elevator Still on Track for Completion by End of Summer

By |

The Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. The long-delayed elevator project at Waveny House remains on track to be completed by the end of summer, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The elevator contractor is on site working, Mann said, and the town is having the contractor revise a railing based on a discussion held the week before. “It’s a process,” Mann told the Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting Tuesday morning at Town Hall. “By the time we get through inspections and everything else, it’ll be operational by the end of the summer,” Mann said.

News

‘Patience Levels Are Low’: Water Main Installation on South Avenue Underway

By |

The Summer Internship Program is sponsored by the New Canaan Racquet Club. A four-year-long construction project in New Canaan started its final stretch this week. 

The water company’s 36-inch water main installation is nearly complete, though community members’ patience is dwindling, officials say. Four years ago, Aquarion began installing a water main, causing road closures on the eastern side of town. Now, the installation is taking place on South Avenue (with a plan to repave starting in September). Sections of South Avenue between Douglas and Farm Road will be closed from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays for the next three months, through the end of August, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann.

Board of Selectmen

Town To Replace Southwood Drive Sidewalks

By |

The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved a contract with a Rocky Hill-based company to replace the sidewalk on Southwood Drive. Together with Southwood, neighborhoods scheduled for new sidewalks include Heritage Hill, East Avenue and South Avenue, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “We’ll be looking for a grant on East Avenue,” Mann told the selectmen during their meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “That’s really where we’re dialing it in.”
The sidewalks will be fully concrete, apart from the downtown area, and won’t require granite curbing, he said. Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll said, “Sidewalks are expensive.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Selectman: Town Should Plant Screening Trees on Rights-of-Way at Weed and Elm

By |

One of New Canaan’s top elected officials said Tuesday that the town should prioritize the planting of trees at Weed and Elm Streets to screen the building project that emerges there. Last week, the Planning & Zoning Commission, following a state Superior Court judge’s order, approved a four-story, 102-unit affordable housing complex at 751 Weed St. The property’s owner, New Canaan developer Arnold Karp, has said he plans to begin construction in the fourth quarter. “One way, shape, or form there’s going to be something built at that place,” Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll said during the Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. She continued: “It could take a couple of years.