Government

Selectmen Criticize Effectiveness, Aesthetics of Pedestrian-Activated Flashing Beacons

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The Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting approved a contract with a Newtown-based company for pedestrian-activated flashing beacons on Gower Road at South School and Elm Street at Kimberly Place. Motorists are “not necessarily paying attention to the students in the crosswalk” or crossing guards and monitors at South School trying to ensure their safety, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “We put in additional ‘no parking’ signs to try to free up the area and we’re still having a problem,” Mann told the selectmen at their March 5 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. There also are many people on Kimberly Place who seek to cross Elm Street at the intersection, he said. “It’s been a longstanding request,” Mann said.

Board of Selectmen

Town To Finalize Easement Agreement with Condo Association Near Mead Pond

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Town officials last week approved funds for a survey of a condominium association’s property that includes an area along the eastern edge of Mead Pond. 

The town didn’t realize when it proposed spending federal American Rescue Act funds to create a Flexi-pave walk around the pond two years ago that the abutting Park Slope condo association owns much of the property downslope from its residences, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. 

For decades, the town has mowed and otherwise kept up the area— which encompasses a revitalized memorial walk dedicated to the 38 New Canaan men who died while serving in World War II—as part of its Mead Park maintenance, Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their March 5 meeting. Now, the condo association “would like an easement” as part of its agreement with the town. Asked by First Selectman Dionna Carlson to explain why the town is pursuing the easement, Mann said, “It’s not a question of why, it’s a question of need.”

“This came about when we were discussing placing the Flexi-pave walk through that area,” he continued at the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “It was determined that their [Park Slope’s] property actually extends closer to the park than was originally anticipated or originally known. We thought we owned further back.

Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Approve $45,000 Contract for Waveny Wall Repair Work

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The Board of Selectmen last week approved a $45,200 contract with a Ridgefield-based company to reconstruct Waveny’s stone walls along Lapham Road. 

The contractor, Greg of Fallaci Masonry—a man known to many who frequent the popular park, as he has been rebuilding the fieldstone walls there in recent years—charges $900 per day for his services, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. That figure would beat what the town and its partner in many projects at the park, the Waveny Park Conservancy, would pay to a contractor if the job went out to bid, he said. “Overall he’s saving us money if we were to actually go out and bid this to another masonry contractor,” Mann told the selectmen during their regular meeting, held March 5 in Town Hall and via videoconference. “And he’s done the entire wall to date, and it looks fantastic. So we just want to finish the two ends up by the Benko Pool and then down by the leaf mulch site until they run into the trees.

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Town: Consultant Finds that Gerdes-South Avenue Intersection Functions at Lowest Possible Level of Service

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A New Haven-based consulting firm has found that the intersection of Gerdes Road and South Avenue—long backed-up with Merritt Parkway-skirting motorists using navigation apps at rush hour, causing safety and other concerns for residents—functions at the lowest possible level of service, officials say. Traffic engineers at the firm of Hardesty & Hanover have assigned a grade of F to the intersection on a scale of A to F with “F being the worst,” for westbound traffic in the morning, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. 

The same intersection functions at a level D in the afternoon, Mann told members of the Police Commission at their Feb. 21 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Yet in looking at how the intersection will perform over a five-year period, the consultants “came up with the fact that if they took nine seconds off of one of the legs, basically the northbound leg on South Avenue, and gave it to Gerdes, it would raise Gerdes from an F to a D,” Mann said, with C and D being acceptable and common service levels for such intersections. By transferring nine seconds of green light from South Avenue to the commuter traffic, “the queuing lengths on Gerdes would reduce from 700 feet to somewhere on the order of below 500 feet, which I think would almost put us before the intersection of Conrad Road ,and then prevent some people from shooting up Conrad Road,” Mann said.

Government

‘People Are Just Not Stopping’: South School Crosswalk To Get Pedestrian-Activated Flashing Beacon

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Saying the leadership at South School has flagged a safety issue for kids, town officials on Wednesday approved the installation of a second set of pedestrian-activated flashing beacons on Gower Road. The Police Commission about one year ago approved a set of “rapid rectangular flashing beacons” or “RRFBs” for a crosswalk leading from a Douglas Road neighborhood pathway to a playground at South. 

During its regular meeting Wednesday night, the Commission approved another set of RRFBs for a crosswalk located further east, near a parking area at the school. Public Works Director Tiger Mann, in seeking approval from the appointed body, said the new request came from both New Canaan Police School Resource Officer Shane Gibson and South School Principal Matt Kascak. Though the first set of RRFBs has been helpful is slowing Gower motorists, “the problem still is that cars are not stopping for kids as they want to try to come through the crosswalk,” Mann said. “And this is probably the major artery for walkers to South School to come down Gower Road and cross this intersection,” he said at the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.