Government

Parks Officials by 9-0 Vote Support Waveny Park Conservancy’s Plans for Trails, Cornfields

By |

Parks officials last week voted unanimously to support three major projects that an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization dedicated to Waveny Park has slated for this calendar year. The Waveny Park Conservancy plans in 2017 to create and improve trails at the cherished town park that ultimately will give pedestrians a high-quality surface that runs from the South Avenue entrance to the western parking lot up at the main house, officials with the organization said during the Feb. 8 Parks & Recreation Commission meeting. Additionally—thanks largely to a $300,000 grant from the Jeniam Foundation, established by the late Andrew Clarkson—the organization is seeking to comb through a 7-acre site in the southeast corner of Waveny in order to remove a highly invasive grass called ‘phragmites,’ according to Keith Simpson, a local landscape architect and member of the conservancy’s board. Though the conservancy will stay away from chemical treatments to abate the phragmites that already have taken root in ‘The Cornfields,’ “if we get them down to a really minor amount, we might be able to spot-treat that,” Simpson told the commission at the meeting, held in Lapham Community Center.

Around Town

‘Make Sure the Trail Gets Finished Properly’: Parks Officials Push for Top Mix on New Pedestrian Path at Waveny

By |

Seeking to make more widely usable a new trail at Waveny, public works officials said Wednesday night that they’re hoping to partner with a nonprofit organization that’s dedicated to ensuring that the park continues to thrive and serve New Canaanites. The Waveny Park Conservancy—a group that’s already created a pair of popular new trails—would like to see every trail in the park use its high-quality mix as a top layer for New Canaanites to trod as they pass, according to Tiger Mann, director of the Department of Public Works. Yet that mix is “very expensive” as such materials go, and in order to purchase enough to cover a long new trail that runs from the main road through Waveny toward Lapham Community Center, some help is needed, Mann told members of the Park & Recreation Commission at their regular monthly meeting. With the town working on a regularly approved budget of about $50,000 for such projects, “we are going to need a little help from the conservancy,” Mann said at the meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. Originally requested two years ago by Recreation Director Steve Benko, the trail garnered support from New Canaan’s funding bodies and received approval for a $43,000 contract from the selectmen in October.

Around Town

‘A Full Rich Experience’: Conservancy Reviews History of Waveny Park, Future Plans

By |

Perhaps the most important step taken by the last family to own privately what is today known as Waveny Park was in hiring the renowned Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm to design its grounds and gardens, a local expert said Wednesday. Led by the Brooklyn-born founder of Texaco Oil Company, the Lapham family not only built Waveny House but oversaw creation of the carefully cultivated area immediately around it, including the walled garden, according to Keith Simpson, a New Canaan-based landscape architect. Yet since New Canaan acquired the property in 1967, its main house, outbuildings and grounds all have needed regular repair and upkeep, such as when Simpson and the Garden Club restored the walled garden east of the prominent brick structure in 1982. “But it’s only a small area,” Simpson told more than 100 listeners gathered in the Visitors Center at the New Canaan Nature Center for an hour-long talk on the cherished public park. “More places need attention.

Around Town

PHOTOS: Waveny Park Conservancy’s Inaugural ‘Tailgate’ Party and Fundraiser Draws Hundreds

By |

The Waveny Park Conservancy’s inaugural fundraiser came off in high style on Saturday night, as an estimated 400 to 500 locals enjoyed the cherished park’s first-ever tailgate party under a full “hunter’s moon.”

Town resident Joe Scarborough’s “Morning Joe Music” band played the balcony out back of Waveny House and had scores of the revelers dancing, while others warmed by a firepit and mingled about some 80 cars parked in four rows, before a massive inflatable TV broadcasting college football. Brock Saxe, who co-chaired the event with Scott Gress, said: “We were very lucky that Joe Scarborough and his band offered their services for the first annual Waveny Park Conservancy tailgate, and we are happy that everybody in the community turned out to support the conservancy.”

He added: “It all made for a great evening.”

New Canaan’s Bob Seelert, chairman of the conservancy’s board, called the first-ever tailgate party “a fantastic event, displaying New Canaan at its best, and demonstrating that Waveny indeed is the town’s ‘crown jewel,’ with the community displaying great support for everything the conservancy is trying to do.” What it’s trying to do includes redeveloping the disused “cornfields” area in the southeastern corner of Waveny and restoring the pond at the foot of the sledding hill, and evidence of the conservancy’s work already is evident in new trails that lead to the main house. The nonprofit organization also is focused on managing the park’s woodlands, improving the entrance from South Avenue and returning the gardens around Waveny House to what originally was envisioned by the Olmstead Brothers landscaping firm, hired by the Laphams more than 100 years ago. The organization is still tallying all ticket sales from the tailgate, and Saxe noted that several residents additionally gave money to the conservancy at “the giving tree.” The group also sold out of its branded blankets early into the event, he said.

Around Town

Selectmen Approve Funds for Pedestrian Path at Waveny

By |

Town officials this week approved funds to create a new pedestrian path at Waveny that’s designed to get people out of a frequently used roadway. Proposed two years ago by the recreation department, the new path will run parallel to the road that comes off of the main road through Waveny and runs toward Lapham Community Center, according to Tiger Mann, assistant director fo the New Canaan Department of Public Works. The idea is to get pedestrians “onto a trail system on the side of the road, because it does access our senior center and it is quite heavily traveled,” Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting on Tuesday, held at Town Hall. “We would like to see all of our residents walking their dogs or running or what have you utilize the trail instead of the roadway, especially in inclement weather.”

The selectmen unanimously approved a $43,000 contract with a Norwalk company that will create the processed stone trail. Recreation Director Steve Benko first proposed the trail two years ago, and it has garnered support from the town’s funding bodies since then.