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Did You Hear … ?

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Congratulations to New Canaan High School graduate Katherine Knetzger on her engagement to Mark Vitale. Here’s a full announcement:

Ms. Diane Knetzger of New Canaan and Mr. Hugh Knetzger of Greenwich are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Katherine Suzanne Knetzger to Mark Anthony Vitale, son of Dorothy and Aldo Vitale of Brooklyn, NY. The future bride is a graduate of New Canaan High School and received her bachelors degree in nursing at Villanova University. She went on to positions at Norwalk Hospital and the Hospital for Special Surgery before returning closer to home to work as a registered nurse in the outpatient clinic at Greenwich Hospital. She is now pursuing advanced training through a nurse practitioner degree at Fairfield University while concurrently working in the Greenwich Hospital clinic.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The Planning & Zoning Commission during a special meeting on Monday night reviewed some 65 yet-to-be-released conditions that it is considering as part of an approval for the closely followed Merritt Village proposal. Though still in draft form and therefore not public, the approval P&Z discussed appears to land on 105 total units at the proposed development. The specter of an affordable housing application looms over the project, should property owner M2 Partners and the town fail to reach a compromise. During an interview after the P&Z meeting, New Canaan resident and would-be Merritt Village builder Arnold Karp said he and his partners “have sat through six months of hearings.”

“We went from 160 to 140 to 123 to 116 to get 105? That doesn’t sit that well with myself or my partners, because it’s way too arbitrary and capricious,” Karp told NewCanaanite.com.

Around Town

‘New Canaan At Its Best’: Town Council Thanks Volunteers Who Run Family Fourth at Waveny

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New Canaan’s legislative body on Wednesday recognized a group of residents who volunteer each year to plan and run one of the town’s most beloved annual traditions, the Fourth of July fireworks at Waveny. The Family Fourth Committee through its many hours of volunteering creates what Town Council Vice Chairman Steve Karl called “a Norman Rockwell moment” for those who picnic and enjoy the fireworks show each summer. “It’s one of those places and times when it’s New Canaan at its best,” Karl said during the Town Council’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. “Thank you.”

The committee includes:

Steve Benko
Scott Cluett
Chris Cody
Wendy Dixon Fog
Win Goodrich
Suzanne Jonker
Vincent Luciano
Steve Parrett (Secretary)
Tom Stadler (Chairman)
John DiFederico
Rob Mallozzi (honorary member)
Doug Richardson (liaison from the Park & Recreation Commission)

At councilman Penny Young’s suggestion, the committee earned a standing ovation from the legislative body and others gathered in the Town Meeting Room. Town Council Chairman Bill Walbert said nothing better defines New Canaan “than the celebration that we put on for our country’s birthday.”

“There are a lot of things that speak to it, one of which is the fact that we depend on our citizens to support it, it is run by our citizens we have countless volunteers that work everything from traffic to balloons to you name it.”

Walbert noted that Stadler “lives and breathes” the Family Fourth as the committee’s chairman and “is always looking to make it better.”

Committee member Steve Benko recalled that the Family Fourth was launched in 1979 when the chairman of Park & Rec at the time, Joe Toppin, brought the idea to then-First Selectman Charlie Morton about creating a regular event out of a Bicentennial celebration at Waveny a few years earlier, complete with a picnic, fireworks and skydivers.

Around Town

‘A Great Night for All’: Waveny Fireworks Declared Success for Committee, Community

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The head of the volunteer group that organizes the Waveny fireworks estimates that this week’s event saw a modest increase in revenue over last year. According to Tom Stadler, chairman of the Family Fourth Committee, the picnic and fireworks show brought in about $75,000—up $1,000 from the prior summer. The funds will cover the cost of the event, he said, and extra money raised from donations, passes and food sales will carry over to next year. “My intent would be to give us a better fireworks show,” Stadler said. After a significant revenue drop two years ago, the committee this summer sought to increase donations and purchase of passes by stressing that the Family Fourth is independently funded.

Around Town

Family Fourth Committee Seeks To ‘Change the Culture,’ Encourage Attendees To Purchase Event Passes

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The volunteers who help manage traffic at the Waveny fireworks estimate that 40 percent of motorists who park at the three nearby schools do not display event passes in their vehicles, and that an additional 10 percent who park at Waveny itself also appear not to have purchased a pass. It’s a practice that Tom Stadler, chairman of the Family Fourth Committee, said he would like to change. _______________________________________________

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The committee wants to dispel what is “ingrained in the culture,” Stadler said—that the pass is a parking pass. Those walking in and even those who park at South School, Saxe Middle School, and New Canaan High School should purchase the $35 event pass, he said.