Town officials last week approved funds for a survey of a condominium association’s property that includes an area along the eastern edge of Mead Pond.
The town didn’t realize when it proposed spending federal American Rescue Act funds to create a Flexi-pave walk around the pond two years ago that the abutting Park Slope condo association owns much of the property downslope from its residences, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann.
For decades, the town has mowed and otherwise kept up the area— which encompasses a revitalized memorial walk dedicated to the 38 New Canaan men who died while serving in World War II—as part of its Mead Park maintenance, Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their March 5 meeting. Now, the condo association “would like an easement” as part of its agreement with the town.
Asked by First Selectman Dionna Carlson to explain why the town is pursuing the easement, Mann said, “It’s not a question of why, it’s a question of need.”
“This came about when we were discussing placing the Flexi-pave walk through that area,” he continued at the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “It was determined that their [Park Slope’s] property actually extends closer to the park than was originally anticipated or originally known. We thought we owned further back. So at that point in time, it was determined that the predominance of the pedestrians are walking on Park Slope property. And they felt that they wanted certain protections from that. They didn’t want to stop the pedestrians. They certainly don’t want the walkway itself across their property, but they don’t want to stop the pedestrians. They feel compelled to have some [liability] protections there.”
The town has already drawn up legal documents for the approximately 10-foot-wide easement itself, and the last part of the file that needs to go into the land records is a survey of the property, Mann said.
Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of a $2,250 contract with locally based RKW Land Surveying to do the work.
Mann noted that the town already has a sanitary sewer easement that runs underground in the same area.
“There’s a sanitary line that runs from Richmond Hill to the pump station that’s right there,” he said. “It’s underground. We can go on in there and maintain it, but we can’t necessarily have people walk over it. …. And it [the easement agreement] has certain stipulations as far as they don’t want to see any benches or trees planted on it without their approval, things of that nature. But then the establishment of the easement was to be the town’s responsibility, since we were asking for the easement for our residents to be able to continue to walk.”
The Flexi-pave proposal that received support from the prior administration two years ago has “been tabled,” Mann said.
The Gold Star Walk when it originally was installed in 1945 at the end of World War II by a local gardening club included 38 flowering trees honoring each of the New Canaan men who lost their lives in service. Each tree had been fitted with a plaque bearing the name of the deceased. The trees and the walk fell into some disrepair prior to a restoration effort several years ago, and new trees had been planted.
Unfortunately, Mann said, three Gold Star trees were planted on what the town came to learn was Park Slope property.
“We thought they [the trees] were replacements of existing trees back when the Walk was established,” he said. “So we had to relocate those trees.”
The condo association’s property runs “right to the pond,” Karl noted.
“That’s interesting,” he said. “All those years of skating over that area, you’d never think that.”
When Karl noted that the town has always maintained the area, Mann said, “We still maintain the area, that’s correct, and we will continue to maintain the area.”
When Karl asked whether there’s a fence that separates Park Slope from the area in question, Mann said, “It was stone wall and there’s a lot of plantings in the area, but they have had residents walk through their property to come down to the pond because there was a staircase that leads from their parcel down.”
He continued: “They’ve gated that now and said that it was just for residents of Park Slope itself. So residents would have to walk to the driveway and around.”
Karl noted that the stone wall effectively prevents pedestrians from inadvertently walking up to a Park Slope terrace.
Mann said that’s correct, that “there’s a stone wall and then there’s plantings to protect the terraces and protect their decks.”
“You can’t walk straight on there,” Mann said. “The sidewalk went up to their parking area and their walkways, and then led out to Park Street to the sidewalk. That’s why residents were using it, in essence, as a cut-through.”
Karl said he understood that the residents of the condos want to ensure privacy.