Around Town

‘It’s Really Beautiful’: Praise for New Footpath at Waveny

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Recently completed by the town, a new path in Waveny, running from the western side of Waveny House to the Lapham Road entrance, is earning high praise from park users. The eight-foot wide path closes a long-planned loop in the park, officials say, allowing visitors to enjoy approximately 1.7 miles of uninterrupted pathway and offering an even more attractive solution to pedestrians who insist on walking in the road. “It used to be like a cow path,” Recreation Director Steve Benko told NewCanaanite.com. “Everybody had to walk up the same hill, and they’d trip over rocks and roots. Now, you can conceivably do a loop of the whole park without leaving the path.”

Additional drainage is expected to take place soon, and the path is currently up and running under a design from the Waveny Park Conservancy.

Around Town

‘It Finally Feels Like Summer’: Locals Head to Downtown, Parks As Temps Soar into 70s

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Olive Gallagher, a West School third-grader, on Monday afternoon joined her friends Phoebe Mellick, a West School second-grader, and Morgan Tusa, an East School third-grader, on the bench outside of Baskin-Robbins on Main Street. The trio had spent part of the morning at a beach in Westport, where they participated in a photo shoot on the fabulous Beachmate system (a local family’s invention), and then came back to sun-dappled New Canaan for their cool treat. “This is one of my favorite spots,” Phoebe told NewCanaanite.com before going back to her Icing On the Cake-flavored ice cream cone. “We’re just enjoying the weather.” (Olive also got Icing On the Cake—asked what flavor she had, Morgan answered, “I have no idea.”)

As temperatures climbed into the 70s in New Canaan—and less than one month after a winter storm dumped about a foot of snow here—locals enjoying April break at home headed into town and out to the public parks to relax and reconnect with nature and each other. “Everyone comes out of the woodwork and enjoys the beautiful day—it finally feels like summer is here,” New Canaan’s Andrea Reid said from a favorite family spot, Irwin Park, where she joined a friend and watched over her kids, 5-year-old Asher, a New Canaan Community Preschooler, and Morgan, 2, who attends the preschool at United Methodist Church (the writer’s alma mater).

Around Town

VIDEO: New Canaan Family Fourth at Waveny

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New Canaan Family Fourth 2016
Uploaded by Michael Dinan on 2016-07-05. Thousands of residents set up picnics, tossed frisbees, enjoyed live music from the venerable New Canaan Town Band and meandered about the town’s cherished Waveny Park on Monday for the 36th Annual Family Fourth. We tried to capture the popular annual event’s spirit in the video above—enjoy.

Government

Drones at Waveny: Citing Safety Hazards, Town Officials Call for Use Policy

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Saying the drones they see flying at Waveny with greater frequency represent safety hazards, parks officials will set about drafting a policy on the use of the devices there. Recreational drone operators and at least one out-of-town Realtor—practicing her listing flyovers—have sent the devices overhead during baseball and softball games at nearby fields, according to Steve Benko, director of the New Canaan Recreation Department. With a policy in hand, signage and organization, those who fly drones hopefully would become as responsible and respectful as the men who fly model airplanes as part of the venerable New Canaan Radio Control Society, Benko told members of the Park & Recreation Commission at their regular meeting this month. “Unfortunately, Waveny Park has become ‘Fairfield County Park,’ ” Benko said during the meeting, held May 11 in Lapham Community Center. “Everybody from Stamford, Darien, Westport and Norwalk comes here and they think, ‘I can just do that.’ ”

And in some cases, they appear to feel very strongly.

Government

‘It’s Awesome’: Parks Officials Support Waveny Park Conservancy’s Plan for a New Trail

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Parks officials on Wednesday night voted unanimously in favor of a private group’s plan to create a new trail in Waveny Park where walkers, joggers and others now are forced into the roadway for lack of one. As it is, the trail that snakes alongside the Waveny Road from the South Avenue entrance ends at a traffic triangle where the Carriage Barn driveway comes into it. Under a proposal from the Waveny Park Conservancy, a new trail would climb the hill up toward the main parking lots in front of Waveny House, according to Keith Simpson, a local landscape architect who sits on the nonprofit organization’s board. “I am showing some additional trees because we want to do some additional trees, and if the budget allows, we would like to put some trees in and cut down some brush so that there is no doubt about it, people can see the trail from the road,” Simpson told members of the Park & Recreation Commission during their regular monthly meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. “Because we want them incentivized to get up and then that would presumably strengthen our hand and the police department’s hand to say we really, really want strollers and people with dogs off the road because we have created an 8-foot-wide trail for you.”

The commission voted 8-0 in favor of constructing the new trail (it needs selectmen, finance board and Town Council approval, and will be paid for entirely by the conservancy) as presented.