Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Approve Contract for Drug Testing of New Hires and ‘Safety-Sensitive’ Workers

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The Board of Selectmen last week approved a contract with a Larchmont, N.Y.-based company to provide drug testing for new hires and “safety-sensitive” town workers. The latter group includes those who carry a commercial driver’s license or “CDL,” and they’re tested quarterly, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “There are two separate pools in the DOT pool and the non-DOT pool based on their CDL licensing, and then from there, there’s a random draw,” Mann told the selectmen at a special meeting, held Jan. 17 at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

He added, “We don’t take the draw. The company itself takes the draw.

Government

Town Approves Funds To Finish Redesign of New Pedestrian Crossing at Route 123 and Brushy Ridge/Locust Avenue

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Town officials last week approved another $10,000 in consulting fees in order to finish redesigning a busy intersection to the state’s satisfaction. Residents have been calling for improvements to the intersection of Route 123 at Locust Avenue/Brushy Ridge for nearly 10 years, and the town—with New Haven-based traffic consultants Fuss & O’Neill—has already worked and re-worked plans for a safe pedestrian crossing at the busy state road. Yet officials with the state Department of Transportation have returned repeatedly with additional changes to the plan, such as changing the pedestrian crosswalk from the southern end of the intersection to the northern end. Specifically, according to New Canaan Public Works Director Tiger Mann, the town proposed the “idea of extending the sidewalk down Brushy Ridge to come across 123 to attach to the sidewalk that’s at Locust Avenue”

“Associated with that would be some signal modifications—specifically to the pedestrian heads as far as the locations and then the timing,” Mann told the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held Jan. 4 at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Government

Police Commission Takes No Action Following Sight Line Concern at Farm and Main

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Saying the intersection works as-is, members of New Canaan’s local traffic authority will take no action in response to residents’ call for changes at the Main-Old Norwalk-White Oak Shade-Farm Road four-way. The Police Commission in December received at least two letters from residents voicing concerns about a picket fence recently installed atop a stone wall on the south side of Old Norwalk Road, at the intersection. Obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request, the letters note that the fence appears to violate two sections of the New Canaan Zoning Regulations (see pages 154 and 161 here). In a Dec. 6 letter to the Commission, Peter Cooley notes that the fence atop the rock wall is taller than allowed and also in a public right-of-way.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Town: Playhouse on Track for May 1 Reopening

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Shuttered since the onset of COVID-19, New Canaan’s movie theater is on track to reopen around May 1, officials say. The approximately $8 million renovation of The Playhouse on Elm Street is “going well,” according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “It’s on schedule,” he told members of the Board of Selectmen during an update on the project at their regular meeting Tuesday, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “It’s actually—I don’t want to say it’s ‘ahead’ of schedule, so let’s just say it’s ‘on’ schedule—but we’re feeling we’ll be able to open a little bit earlier than we originally anticipated.”

The town’s contract with its construction company has the project completed May 30-June 1, Mann said, though “right now they’re looking at April 30-May 1.”

The architects on the job are “confident as well” with that date, he said. “So that’s what we’re gunning towards,” Mann said.

Board of Selectmen

Saxe Playing Fields To Be Surveyed for Artificial Turf Installation

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Faced with a need for more playing time, officials this week approved a contract to kickstart a look into installing turf fields at Saxe Middle School. The Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting Wednesday—its last as currently composed—voted 3-0 in favor of a contract with New Canaan-based RKW Land Surveying to survey the grass fields at Saxe. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted in favor of the $13,900 contract. The cost will be borne by the New Canaan Athletic Foundation. A recommendation to study the Saxe fields “for the potential to install turf fields” emerged because “some of the fields at Saxe are a little bit too wet for a gym class to go out, given the fact that the grass we’re not able to play on as much as we would like,” according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann.