Government

Birdcage Elevator Could be Best Option to Bring Waveny House Up to ADA Compliance

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There could soon be a birdcage installed at Waveny House … a birdcage elevator, that is. Actually, a birdcage elevator is technically a “lift” and not an elevator, because it is not enclosed and utilizes hydraulics instead of cables. Aside from that trivial fact, the town is studying the possibility of installing the elevator for the purpose of bringing the historic building into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Currently, there are two ways to get from the first floor of Waveny House to the second floor: Stairs and an original “baggage elevator” that runs from the basement to the attic. However, the baggage elevator has not been used in decades and no longer works.

Around Town

Parks Officials Turn To Public for Solutions to Dog Waste Problem at Irwin, Waveny

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Saying an ongoing problem has gotten especially bad lately, parks officials are calling for public input to address how to get those who walk dogs at Irwin and Waveny Parks to pick up after their pets. Sally Campbell, chairman of the Parks & Recreation Commission, said she’s received multiple complaints from residents and will put the matter at the volunteer group’s Feb. 14 meeting. “This year has been really bad,” Campbell told NewCanaanite.com. “What I would like to do is say, ‘What are the solutions?’ and talk about maybe just having dogs in one park or walking where they’re visible so people feel they have to pick up after them.”

Those with dogs at Waveny and Irwin either do not pick up after their dogs at all, or else pick up the waste and then discard the full bags off-trail or piled on a rock or something similar, Campbell said, which “is more unsightly.”

In the past, it’s been suggested that the town install more garbage receptacles deeper into trails where people are walking, so that they can dispose of the dog waste.

Around Town

‘Caffeine & Carburetors’ To Return: Organizers Seek Four Dates in 2018

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The New Canaan founder of Caffeine & Carburetors, the hugely popular grassroots gathering of specialty and classic auto enthusiasts, said Wednesday night that he’s seeking to hold four events in 2018. Doug Zumbach, owner of the eponymous coffee shop on Pine Street where Caffeine & Carburetors began with just 50 cars eight years ago, told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission that he’s seeking two dates at Waveny and two downtown. “We are deciding to come back this year after taking a year off,” Zumbach told commissioners at their regular meeting, held in Lapham Community Center. New this year, Zumbach said, will be an online registration system for car owners seeking to participate in the show, possible mobile app, increased insurance policy for the event (doubled to $2 million) and lecture series at New Canaan Library that touches on topics such as car restoration and teenage driving. The specific dates that Zumbach is seeking are April 22 (downtown), June 17 (Waveny), Sept.

Around Town

New Canaan Historic Preservationists Select Firm To Prepare Waveny’s Listing on National Register of Historic Places

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A nonprofit organization dedicated to historic preservation in New Canaan is hiring a Pawtucket, R.I.-based firm to put together an application to list one of the town’s most cherished properties on the National Register of Historic Places. It isn’t clear yet just which buildings or portion of the grounds at Waveny—beyond the 1912-built main house—will be included in the application that Public Archeology Laboratory Inc. is to prepare, according to Rose Scott Long, co-president of the New Canaan Preservation Alliance. If approved, Waveny will become the first public property in New Canaan to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The town three years ago voted to back the Preservation Alliance in pursuing the listing. The listing itself has absolutely no bearing on what the town does with main house, grounds or any outbuildings.

Animal 411

Police: Two Bobcat Sightings in Waveny This Month

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The head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control unit is urging Waveny visitors to bring a hazing tool with them after two reported bobcat sightings in the popular park this month. A bobcat crossed in front of a jogger’s path at Waveny on Nov. 20, following an initial sighting reported on Nov. 8, according to Officer Allyson Halm. It’s a good idea at Waveny to have a hazing tool of some kind, mostly because of coyotes, she said.