Government

Town To Pave 8 Local Roads

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Town officials last week approved an approximately $1.25 million contract with a Norwalk-based company to pave a number of local roads. The Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting April 2 voted unanimously in favor of the contract with FGB Construction, one of four companies to bid on it, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The company has “done excellent work with minimal complaints from the residents and the motoring public,” Mann said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. The roads to be paved include Danforth Drive, Indian Rock Road, Lantern Ridge Road, Laurel Road from Canoe Hill to Turner Hill, Pond View Lane, Reeder Lane, Toby’s Lane and West Hills Road. It’s “the first portion of our paving program for this year,” Mann said.

Board of Finance

‘We Don’t Want To See This Thing Happen Ever Again’: Finance Board Approves Further $164,000 for Playhouse

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The Board of Finance last week approved a further—and, officials say, final—approximately $284,000 for the widely anticipated restoration of the movie theater downtown. The appointed body voted 8-0 during a March 27 special meeting in favor of the Playhouse project funding, which includes a special appropriation of about $164,000 (there’s also a separate “project increase” of approximately $120,000). The special appropriation is to be used for additional plumbing for the concession, plating room and bars as well as Health Code compliance (about $59,000), more design fees for a local architectural firm ($78,000), finishes for staircases and landings ($11,000) and a ductless AC unit for an AV room ($16,000), according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. With respect to the Health Code, Mann said municipal officials “feel the town should be responsible for in this regard, given the fact that we have a tenant coming in but we want to make sure our building is up to Code for every requirement, regardless of who we have as a tenant.”

Regarding the floor finishes, Mann said that the town had assumed the new private operator of the Playhouse, CinemaLab, “would be responsible also for the finishes on the staircases to and from.”

“And then as it shook out, through the project, we learned that they didn’t carry that number in their contract and considered that the two staircases were a means of egress and would be the leaseholder’s responsibility,” Mann said during the meeting, held in a Town Hall conference room and via videoconference. Board of Finance Chair Todd Lavieri, Secretary Chris Le Bris and members Michael Chen, Colm Dobbyn, Nick Mitrakis, Tom Schulte, Maria Weingarten and James Yao voted in favor.

Anne Wagner

P&Z Approves New Entrance Sign for NCHS

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The Planning & Zoning Commission on Tuesday night voted unanimously to approve a new ‘New Canaan High School’ sign at the entrance to the Farm Road campus. The NCHS PFA is paying for the estimated $30,000 sign thanks to “the success of our annual appeal fundraising efforts and the generous giving community the past several years,” Anne Wagner, a co-president of the PFA Executive Board, told members of P&Z during a special meeting. “ It was actually inspired by the New Canaan Library site that sits at South and Maple,” Wagner said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “The proposed new entrance site will measure three-and-a-half feet high by 20 feet long by two feet thick, and will be built in a gentle curve of stacked Connecticut stone. It will feature 10-inch-high architectural metal letters in a font that matches the existing lettering on the school building.

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

Outdoor Dining Season in Downtown New Canaan on Track for April 1 to Oct. 31

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Town officials on Wednesday approved the installation of new concrete “planter” barricades for outdoor dining for the upcoming season. The Police Commission voted 3-0 during its regular meeting to allow for the barricades to be put in place from April 1 to Oct. 31. They’ll be placed on either side of the sidewalk “bumpouts” on the northern side of Elm Street, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. They will be “in the area from, say, in front of Rosie’s and then the area from Solé from the Playhouse westward past Chef Luis,” Mann told the Commission at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference.