Government

Town: Mostly Positive Feedback on Change to Paid Parking on Elm

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Town officials say last month’s switchover to paid parking on Elm Street downtown has gone as smoothly as could be expected, with several compliments on the change as well as some frustrations and complaints. The Parking Bureau at Town Hall is getting “a lot of positive feedback with people coming into the office or calling saying that this was a good program, a good initiative that we started,” according to Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg. “We are seeing space availability, we are seeing movement on Elm Street, and turnover,” she said during the Nov. 5 regular meeting of the Parking Commission, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “So the initiative is accomplishing what the goal was.

Government

Town To Study Use of Center School Lot

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved a $17,500 contract with an engineering firm to study the use of the Center School Lot. Under the agreement, New Haven-based Hardesty & Hanover will hold meetings, walk the lot, watch it during peak periods to determine supply and demand, track types of usage and lengths of stay and provide a report at the end. Town Planner Sarah Carey said the Memorandum of Understanding between the town and library called for the study. “We’re hoping to start this now as we anticipate it will take probably a couple of months to have meetings and then find the ideal dates for the study,” Carey told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “The MOU also stipulated that the town has authority to select who the traffic consultant would be.

Business

‘It’s Going To Hurt Merchants’: Parking Commission Pushes Back on Elimination of 15-Minute Spots on Elm Street

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Members of the appointed body that oversees New Canaan’s parking department this month pushed back on part of a larger plan that will see the one-way stretch of Elm Street converted to paid spots. Specifically, members of the Parking Commission during their May 7 meeting objected to plans to eliminate—rather than increase—the number of free 15-minute parking spaces on Elm Street while the town converts those free spots to paid. “If we are not interested in revenue, what is the argument against short-term parking?” Commissioner Katie O’Neill said during the regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “Because as I see it, we are adding a surcharge on coffee shops, on sandwich shops. All the sudden now if you are picking up a $15 sandwich it’s going to be $15.50 or whatever.

Amy Murphy Carroll

ARPA: Selectmen Vote to Transfer Remaining $750,000 to Town’s General Fund

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voted unanimously to transfer all remaining funds from the American Rescue Plan Act or “ARPA” to New Canaan’s General Fund. First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll during their regular meeting voted 3-0 to return the $747,634 to the fund so that the town can spend however it wants, rather than along ARPA-specific guidelines. Murphy Carroll, who served on a joint Board of Finance and Town Council subcommittee that made recommendations about ARPA allocations, said the federal dollars can be used to reimburse communities that lost revenue due to the pandemic. “We did lose approximately $3 million in revenue, and I was always a fan personally of pulling it in, because once you pull it into the town, you can use it for whatever purpose,” she said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference “If you allocate it directly this way, you have to really align with ARPA requirements. So I think it makes all the sense in the world for us to pull this in and then just allocate it out of our General Fund.

Christa Kenin

Town Clerk: Absentee Balloting ‘Steady’ for Nov. 7 Election

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Local officials said Tuesday that they’ve issued 516 total absentee ballots for the Nov. 7 municipal election, and have received back 305 to count. The overall figures appear to be rising as a result of COVID-19, when larger numbers of residents availed themselves of absentee voting. Even so, data indicate that absentee voting will be down from the midst of the pandemic two years ago, according to Town Clerk Claudia Weber. While the town counted just 158 absentee ballots for the local election in 2019—a year that saw a contested first selectman race—the total jumped to 453 in 2021, Weber said.