News

Letter: Town Council Candidate John Engel ‘All In’ for New Canaan

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Dear Editor,

I would like to strongly endorse John Engel for reelection to the Town Council. As a parent raising a third generation of New Canaanites (or is it fourth?), a homeowner, a commercial property landlord, and a Realtor, John is “all-in” for New Canaan.  John is always around town and enjoys little more than talking with people about the issues that are of importance to them. He then carries those views into the town policy-making process to help make sure that the different perspectives are heard. While very polite and civil, he is not afraid to challenge the consensus in order to get to an even better outcome. He is especially focused on showing both current and potential residents that the town balances its budgets and actively works to keep taxes low. Please join me in helping to reelect John to another term on Town Council.

News

Officials Postpone Planned Overhaul of Little League Fields at Mead One Year Due To High Cost Estimates

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A widely anticipated plan to improve the little league baseball fields at Mead Park is being pushed back one year after those overseeing the project received higher-than-anticipated cost estimates, officials said Wednesday night. Unveiled last year, the project to create larger dimensions at Mellick and Gamble Fields and to install new fences, light poles, bleacher areas and a scoreboard originally had been pegged at about $950,000 and was to start this fall. Recently, however, a cost-estimate came back about $600,000 higher than that, according to Scott Werneburg, president of New Canaan Baseball, and officials are not willing to rush into a project now without further pricing out of materials as well as total confidence that it could be wrapped up by spring. “The prudent course of action was not wanting to risk onset of winter and not being able to compete our fields and risk losing our spring season,” he told members of the Town Council during their regular meeting, held at Town Hall. “And the smart course of action is to take our time, get through this process and hopefully have our selected contractor this fall and be able to order early and plan everything to go to construction in August next year after the baseball season has ended.”

The re-engineered project will accomplish many of the big-ticket items originally imagined, he said: turf on the infields, increased playability, improved drainage and new backstops, scoreboard and fencing.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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A northern New Canaan family on Thursday made a gruesome discovery: A raccoon saddled with a “body-gripping” Conibear-brand trap lay drowned at the bottom of its swimming pool. The trap had not been set by the Hunters Creek Lane family and the raccoon’s front foot had been broken by it, according to Officer Allyson Halm of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section. ***

The town on Aug. 9 issued a permit for a New Canaan homeowner to demolish a greenhouse and bomb shelter on the property. Purchased in March, the 4-acre property at 734 Oenoke Ridge Road includes a 1770-built Colonial, tax records show.

Government

Town Councilman Pushes To Resolve Beetle Infestation at Former Outback Teen Center Building

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A member of the Town Council on Wednesday night called for the legislative body to push officials to address a documented “powder post beetle” infestation at the former Outback Teen Center Building. Told that the town likely won’t address the problem until a more comprehensive report on the building’s capital needs and possible future use is in hand, Councilman Cristina A. Ross said that it’s been “slightly over one year” since the infestation was identified and “I am really surprised and concerned that this just keeps going and now we are waiting for another report and no action has been taken.”

“So I think it’s within our [Town Council Infrastructure & Utilities] subcommittee to be able to recommend to the Board of Selectmen to act on [an RFP for remediation] and to take care of the infestation at this point,” she said at the group’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. No one knows what’s going to happen with the cavernous structure behind town hall. It’s been two years since the Outback Teen Center closed, unable either to make enough money to run itself or convince town officials to support a re-imagined, broad program that went beyond serving just teens. It reverted to town ownership last July and the vacant building has been vandalized since then.

Government

Town Council Recognizes Important Work of New Canaan Historical Society, Recently Retired Director

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The Town Council recently recognized the New Canaan Historical Society for its valuable work and dedication to the community. The council specifically thanked former Executive Director Janet Lindstrom, who was in attendance. At the July 19 meeting in Town Hall, Lindstrom said the nonprofit organization’s success “would not be if it were not for the great work that people do on a volunteer basis.”

Part of the Historical Society for 34 years, Lindstrom retired last year and was succeeded this past spring by Nancy Geary following an extensive search. The Historical Society will find a place for anybody who is interested in volunteering, and tasks range from conducting research to introducing people to the eight buildings that the organization manages and preserves, Lindstrom said. The 1825-built Town House, located on Oenoke Ridge Road, includes a research library that includes documents dating back to the Colonial era that anybody can use, she said.