Government

Town Council To Take Up Vote on Creation of ‘Land Acquisition Fund’; 54 Signatures on Petition Seeking Quicker Decision

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The town’s legislative body is scheduled during its regular meeting Wednesday to take up a vote on the widely discussed question of whether New Canaan should establish a standing fund to tap for the acquisition of open space. Included on the Town Council’s Feb. 15 agenda (instead of next month’s) following the filing of a petition with 54 signatures, the “land acquisition fund” discussion had emerged during the group’s January meeting as a divisive topic among councilmen. Members of the Town Council on Jan. 18 voiced support generally for local open space preservation—in fact, the meeting itself saw the legislative body approve a special appropriation of $267,000 to help the New Canaan Land Trust acquire the Fowler property on Silvermine Road—but urged caution in setting up a fund without first establishing an updated, comprehensive plan to guide acquisitions that had received public input.

Government

Town Councilmen To Walk Waveny House Ahead of Vote on $2.3 Million Bonding for Roof Replacement Project

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After putting off a vote last week on $2.3 million in bonding to replace the porous and crumbling roof of Waveny House, members of the town’s legislative body on Friday afternoon will walk the site with building officials to understand better the high-cost project. The Town Council, concerned about escalating costs—it had been estimated at $1 million to $1.2 million in recent years—took up an offer from Bill Oestmann, superintendent of buildings with the New Canaan Department of Public Works, at its Jan. 18 meeting to see the damaged roof for themselves. Though the funds had been approved by the Board of Finance with assurances that costs would be kept down as much as possible for the roof replacement, the Town Council also is concerned about “the cost listed in the 5-year capital plan to renovate the house and how the pieces fit together and what the expected results may be,” councilman Sven Englund, of the group’s Subcomiittee on Infrastructure and Utilities, told NewCanaanite.com in advance of the site visit. A total of $5 million in placeholders now are in the fluid out-years capital plan for “Waveny Roof and Renovations,” though estimates for what’s needed at the cherished 1912-built structure range up to $10 million, Englund said.

Government

Assessor: New Canaan Working Toward 2018 ‘Statistical’ Revaluation

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Officials say they’re working toward the next town-wide revaluation and plan to capture an updated snapshot of all real property values in New Canaan as of Oct. 1, 2018. Working with a private company, town workers will complete a “statistical” rather than comprehensive valuation of New Canaan, according to Assessor Sebastian Caldarella. In other words, rather than entering residents’ homes to help determine values—an expensive and time-consuming process that state law requires every 10 years—the work involves studying home sales and market trends as well as permits issued for new construction in town, Caldarella told members of the Town Council during an informational update at their Jan. 18 meeting.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The hopeful developer of the Roger Sherman Inn property has clarified that he does not intend to raze all of the existing historic structure under his newest application, as NewCanaanite.com had reported last week. Andrew Glazer of Rowayton’s Glazer Group intends to pick up and move the oldest portion of the 18th Century-built inn closer to Oenoke Ridge Road, converting it into one of six new residences planned for the 1.89-acre site. He outlined that plan during a public hearing last month before the Planning & Zoning Commission. ***

New Canaan’s Michael Nowacki is featured in a Connecticut Mirror news story that ran Jan. 13, regarding his interest in hearings in Hartford before the state legislature on judges seeking reappointment.

Government

‘The Town Needs To Invest a Little More’: Officials Call for More Funds to Maintain Public Parks’ Grounds

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More maintenance is needed in New Canaan’s parks, particularly in landscaping the areas immediately around public buildings, and the officials in charge of them say they’ll seek more money in the upcoming budget season to care properly for the cherished properties. The Parks Department doesn’t have the funds needed “to adequately maintain the parks,” Sally Campbell, chairman of the Park & Recreation Commission, told members of the Town Council at their Nov. 16 meeting. “I just still can’t believe the conditions of the landscaping around our town buildings and around our beautiful town assets,” Campbell said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “And we are fortunate that [Parks Superintendent] John Howe does an amazing job maintaining the athletic fields and maintaining our baseball diamonds—and those are kind of easier to maintain—but to maintain the landscaping around Lapham [Community Center], or in Irwin Park where the weeds are just all over the place or the town buildings, we just need more money.”

The comments came during a pre-budget season review of parks and recreation before the Town Council, the final funding body to sign off on New Canaan’s spending plan each year.