Government

Town, Utility Company At Odds About Why Natural Gas Talks Broke Down

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Town and utility company officials are at odds about just why talks broke down regarding a long-discussed proposal to bring natural gas into New Canaan. While members of the Utilities Commission and others in New Canaan have long maintained that Eversource failed to deliver on a commitment to bring natural gas here—the upshot of which includes a plan now in place to heat public schools with propane—officials with the Berlin, Conn.-based company said it was town’s decision to abandon plans. “It’s unfortunate that New Canaan town leaders have a different recollection of what happened during our talks to bring natural gas to town,” Tricia Taskey Modifica, Eversource Energy’s media relations manager for Connecticut, told NewCanaanite.com in an email. “We made an offer to First Selectman Rob Mallozzi and the Utilities Commission last year that would have brought natural gas to the schools, YMCA, and Waveny Care Center. Once that was complete, we would have extended the system to bring gas downtown and through the residential neighborhoods nearby.

Government

Town Looks Into Putting New Canaan-Specific Message on Water Towers at Waveny

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Officials said Monday that they’ve approached Aquarion about placing some town-specific lettering—such as ‘New Canaan, Home of the Rams’—on the water towers at Waveny. The water company is about to undertake a major project to repaint the towers, and Utilities Commission member Dan Welch said he broached the subject with its project manager to see what was possible. “This seems like something pretty cool that we should be able to do as a town, is to get our name on the towers,” Welch said during the commission’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. “I talked to him [the Aquarion project manager] about colors. They’re white.

Government

Money-Saving Propane Heating Coming To Schools; Natural Gas Expansion in New Canaan Off the Table

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New Canaan is poised to save money under a plan that will see the current heating oil supplier for the town and schools introduce a “dual fuel” system in which propane gas becomes available, officials said Monday night. By burying propane tanks and using the infrastructure already in place for fuel oil heating, the district will be able to switch back-and-forth between the energy sources based on market prices, members of the Utilities Commission said during their regular meeting, held at Town Hall. “The bad news is that it means that there will be no natural gas expansion in New Canaan,” Commissioner Scott LaShelle said. “The schools are clearly an anchor tenant for any utility, and as we know from sitting here on this commission working with Yankee Gas [now Eversource] for a solid four years—and the first selectman would say we have been working with Yankee for longer, they have shown an inability to deliver that product to us.”

“Without those anchor tenants, we are not going to get natural gas downtown, we are not going to replace the propane tanks that are downtown, we are not going to bring natural gas to restaurants, we are not going to bring natural gas to residents to save them money, because Yankee will never com here for residential homeowners.”

The development puts to bed frustrating, go-nowhere efforts dating back several years to work with the utility and make natural gas available in downtown New Canaan. Longer-term plans to see Eversource offer it to residences in phases never materialized.

Government

‘It Is a Big Deal’: New Canaan Pursues Major Improvement in Wireless Service

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Town officials plan this month to start soliciting proposals from wireless carriers and developers in order to answer this question, at long last: How can New Canaan address gaps in service in a way that’s aesthetically agreeable to property owners? To this point, carriers themselves have controlled a rather one-sided solution addressing that question, and the response has been largely ineffective—essentially, to erect a tower. Now, thanks to emerging technology—most importantly the far less conspicuous “microcell” sites—and an idea to deliver access to town-owned properties in exchange for creating physical infrastructure that’s palatable for New Canaanites, the town is poised to take a major step forward, officials say. Just issuing a Request For Proposals doesn’t guarantee the desired responses, but it does “create a new opportunity for developers and for carriers who have said it’s frustrating because they cannot get a ‘straight play’ in New Canaan,” said Tom Tesluk, chairman of the all-volunteer Utilities Commission that First Selectman Rob Mallozzi re-grouped during his first term. “What we are trying to do is reach a compromise, a win for both sides, where the town gets better coverage—which is really essential today—and from the carriers’ and developers’ point of view, they would get access to multiple pieces of property, including rights of way on streets, that would allow for new infrastructure that the town feels it could live with.

Government

Enduring Gratitude for Howard Freeman

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Last week, we lost Howard Freeman to a valiant fight against cancer—a fight that spanned several years, with diagnosis, remission, recurrence, and an aggressive and courageous treatment regimen. You would never know because he didn’t dwell on it. He was that kind of person. Howard exhibited the same kind of quiet courage when he took over as Chairman of the Utility Commission, having only served as Commissioner for a short period of time. Not really knowing all of what would be required of him, Howard leaned into the Chairmanship anyway.