News

‘Sky Blue Poles Seen Against the Sky’: Public Safety Antennas Proposed for West School, St. Luke’s

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Town officials have received applications to affix radio antennas to existing structures at West and St. Luke’s Schools, part of a wider effort to improve communications for New Canaan’s first responders. The proposed 20.8-foot antenna at West School would be located atop of a building toward the rear of the campus, on a roof whose peak is about 28 feet from the ground, according to an application submitted to Planning & Zoning. The proposed 20-foot antenna at St. Luke’s would be affixed atop a brick chimney at a building alongside the football field, according to the school’s application.

News

Board of Ed Voices Support for Proposed Emergency Communications Antenna at West School

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Board of Education members on Monday night voiced support for a proposal from the New Canaan Police Department to install an approximately 10-foot radio communications antenna on a 5-foot “monopole” atop the roof of the West School gymnasium. Assured that the pole poses no health hazards—in fact, there are two existing, similar set-ups already at West School, used by the bus company and district itself, according to Police Capt. John DiFederico—Board of Ed members stopped short of a formal vote. The new one would serve public safety needs, he said. School board member Sheri West said: “It seems very straightforward to me that we would be supporting” the installation. DiFederico described the proposed antenna as an initial step toward improving portable radio communications for police, fire and public works officials as well as EMTs and members of the Community Emergency Response Team or ‘CERT.’

“The problem is that portable radios in the western side of town have a real difficult time reaching our base so that is what a receive-only antenna does—it captures the radio signals in the air and sends them back to the police department or the fire house or the public works facilities,” DiFederico said at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Studio Elan, an established business on Burtis Avenue, is moving into the former Candy Scoop space on Elm Street, up the alley by Chef Luis and next to New Canaan Music. ***

New Canaan Public Schools cafeterias recently earned the No. 1 “Best Food Ranking” from Niche.com. Here’s a peek at the top-10 (Darien is No. 23—nanny nanny boo boo):

New Canaan
Middlefield
Weston
Westport
Wilton
Chester
Killingly
Waterford
Simsbury
Glastonbury

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Police responded to a call at 1:28 p.m. last Saturday that a dog near Forest Street and Locust Avenue was “going crazy in a car.” The dog’s owner, who was inside the nearby New Canaan Diner, paid her bill and left the restaurant to take care of the barking animal.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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An interesting side note to the New Canaan Housing Authority’s plan to build with greater density the public housing at Mill Pond (a project that will trigger relief from a developer loophole in the state statutes): According to the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, the total number of housing units in New Canaan has decreased over the last several reportable years:

***

Troopers from Connecticut State Police Troop G last Thursday rescued two Hawks Hill Road golden retrievers who had wandered onto the Merritt Parkway. The fortunate animals were secured safely just after 1 p.m. on March 3, according to the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section. It wasn’t immediately clear how they got out. ***

Congratulations to New Canaanite Ann Cotoia on her retirement from Bankwell after nearly 14 years. She joined the bank the month it opened (April 2002) and is a third generation New Canaanite. March 4 marked her last day, following 48 total years in the banking industry. “She was a tremendously valued employee at Bankwell as a Personal Banker, and often heralded for her outstanding service to customers,” officials say.

Government

School Cafeterias Score High in Health Inspections; ‘Risk Factor’ Violations at NCHS, Saxe and West

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Each of New Canaan’s six public school cafeterias scored at least 95 points out of a possible 100 in recent unannounced inspections by the New Canaan Health Department. Three of the cafs were cited for more serious “risk factor” violations during inspections conducted by Sanitarian and Restaurant/Food Inspector Carla DeLucia—one each at the high school, middle school and West School. East School earned a perfect 100. The overall scores were:

East: 100
South: 99
West: 97
Saxe: 98
NCHS: 95

Here are the details, noted by the sanitarian, at the most recent inspection for each school—risk factor violations are noted with an asterisk:

East (Jan. 11)—zero violations

South (Jan.