Around Town

New Flowers Beautify Area Outside Waveny Pool

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With summer just around the corner, the New Canaan Recreation Department has been making the Waveny Pool ready for the upcoming season. Recently, the Recreation Department added new landscaping outside the pool to the make the popular summer spot’s entrance more attractive. Recreation Director Steve Benko told New Canaanite that the town has been working through the past couple of years to make the area outside of the pool look nice, and thinks that they finally accomplished that this year. “Some of the plants [from last year], just from winter kill, didn’t really make it,” Benko said. “There’s an island [and] because of the subsoil in the island we had some birch trees that didn’t make it, and then we tried a couple crabapple [trees] and they didn’t make it so we took them out and put some annual flowers in because the subsoil is so wet it holds water.”

After working diligently to find a match for the area outside of the pool, officials decided that it would be best to swap out the trees for annual flowers.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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We heard that the New Canaan Y has put off indefinitely its proposal to “bubble” the Waveny Pool for winter use while it undergoes an expansion that includes a new aquatic center. Officials at the Park & Recreation Commission say the Y is focusing on fundraising now while it works on a plan for its swimmers. ***

New Canaan High School 2014 grad Kit Mallozzi has been named to the Dean’s List at Syracuse University. Kit, winner of a Student Leadership Award as a NCHS senior, finished her first semester with the Orange with a perfect 4.0, proud father Rob Mallozzi said. “She just loves it there,” he said.

Government

Fees Set, Upgrades Planned for 2015 Season at Waveny Pool

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Praising members of a volunteer group that sets policy at Waveny Pool, the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved a new slate of fees for the 2015 season at the popular summertime destination. The finances of the self-sustaining Waveny Pool have seen a “dramatic change” for the better, in part because of a Park & Recreation subcommittee that has “put some business acumen behind the way that business was being run,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said during the board’s Feb. 10 meeting. “[Recreation Director] Steve [Benko] was incredibly adaptive to that and the pool is on really solid footing again,” Mallozzi said at the meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department. The approved fees are as follows, with a reduction in regular family passes and an increase in passes that allow for daily use and guests—changes designed to lure families to purchase season passes rather than mixing and matching daily and guest passes to save money (article continues below):

 

Out-of-town families that purchase higher-priced season passes to Waveny Pool—mostly residents of Darien, reigning runners-up for the state football title—already are making inquiries of the Rec Department for the upcoming season.

Around Town

Parks Officials Set Proposed Fees, Plan Upgrades to Waveny Pool

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Hoping more residents buy family (versus individual) passes for Waveny Pool as officials plan several new features and upgrades at the facility, the Park & Recreation Commission on Wednesday voted in favor of a new slate of fees for the 2015 season. The fee for regular family passes will come down from $475 to $425, under the proposed structure, while passes that allow for daily use and guests will go up, under the commission’s plan. The changes are designed to lure families to purchase season passes rather than mixing and matching daily and guest passes to save money. “It sounds by looking at everything that people were gaming the system by buying this [individual daily pass] and then bringing in people as guests for $5,” Commission Chair Sally Campbell said at the group’s meeting, held in the Douglas Room at Lapham Community Center. Here’s a look at the proposed fee schedule, compared to last year:

 

The Waveny Pool financially must self-sustain, and the commission all through last summer had believed that revenues, though up from the prior year, still fell short of projections—a difficult prospect, given what recreation officials have called a sorely needed plaster replacement job.

Government

New Canaan Y Proposes ‘Bubbling’ Waveny Pool for Use Next Winter

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Saying the “bubbling” of Waveny Pool for winter use next year would serve high school as well as New Canaan YMCA swimmers, minimize schedule disruptions and keep competitive swim team families here in town, Y officials on Wednesday night formally introduced the idea of installing a heated temporary dome over the outdoor pool while their South Avenue facility undergoes major renovation. The Y would cover all capital costs associated with the “bubble” and provide for heated locker room and bathroom/shower facilities—whether by winterizing the Waveny Pool’s existing locker rooms or through trailers, Executive Director Craig Panzano told the Park & Recreation Commission at its regular monthly meeting. “I think the key word here tonight is ‘temporary,’ ” Panzano said at the meeting, held in the Douglas Room at Lapham Community Center. “We are not trying to do anything permanent. We just want a temporary solution.”

The Y plans to break ground on its renovation project (details here) next September.