New Canaan committee approves minutes, previews 250th parade route
Other Committee · Meeting of March 4, 2026
New Canaan committee previews a June 27 anniversary parade and presses the town on downtown parking troubles. Chamber of Commerce head Laura told the group it has been "a brutal winter" for Elm Street and Main Street merchants still adjusting to the town's revised parking rules. Town liaison Mark Tucker said the Board of Selectmen approved contracts a day earlier to resize two municipal lots, work expected to take about three weeks per lot.
Committee member Susan Schwitzer said "a bigger problem are the delivery trucks," which "take up two, three, four parking spaces while they unload," and member Jack said older residents and international visitors are struggling with the new parking kiosks. The committee approved its December 3 minutes unanimously and heard a New Canaan High School student's pitch for a residential-zone café near campus.
In the full story:
- The complete report — 938 words
Source: the Other Committee meeting of March 4, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
The Full Article
NEW CANAAN — March 4, 2026 — A New Canaan committee overseeing downtown business issues and the town's 250th anniversary celebration learned Wednesday that the anniversary's signature parade will step off June 27, not July 4, so it does not compete with the town's Independence Day fireworks display.
Members also pressed town liaison Mark Tucker on the stalled construction of a delivery ramp behind the Playhouse, which officials say is central to easing a rocky first winter of revised parking rules on Elm Street. The committee voted unanimously to approve its December 3 minutes and heard a pitch from a New Canaan High School student seeking zoning guidance for a proposed café near the high school.
The Full Story
The committee opened with the departure of its presiding officer to a separate charter revision commission meeting taking place in the same building, prompting an early handoff of most of the agenda to Laura, head of the Greater New Canaan Chamber of Commerce. Before leaving, the outgoing chair introduced Grace Bowman, a New Canaan High School sophomore, who asked the group for guidance on a class project through FCCLA, a national hospitality and tourism club. Bowman said she is designing a café or deli modeled on two Greenwich businesses and wants to explore placing one in a residential zone near Farm Road. The chair offered to arrange a meeting between Bowman, Town Planner Sarah Kerry and Chamber head Laura; committee member Alan Marino, who said he represents hospitality businesses, also volunteered to help.
The chair gave a brief update on the town's 250th anniversary before leaving, saying the town has launched an events calendar covering programming from Flag Day through Veterans Day. The centerpiece parade steps off at 9:30 a.m. June 27 from the Lumberyard parking lot, proceeds down Elm Street, passes Walter Stewart's and the train station, then heads up South Avenue to the high school. Lisa Miland and Tracy Carl are co-chairing the event; Miland has designed six banners representing different elements of the community that will ride on parks department flatbeds. Museum committee member Nancy Giri said the New Canaan Museum and Historical Society, working with Whitney Williams, has already begun its own 250th programming, including a March 21 kickoff event and an exhibition opening May 14. The society's annual gala has moved from June 5 to May 29, and tickets are on sale.
Laura then delivered a downtown update, describing a difficult winter for Main Street and Elm Street businesses compounded by the town's revised parking rules. She said a ramp under construction behind the Playhouse, intended to let delivery trucks unload without blocking curbside spaces on Elm Street, remains unfinished because of weather but is close to completion. Tucker said the Board of Selectmen approved contracts a day earlier to resize spaces in two municipal lots, the Park Street lot and the Playhouse lot, work expected to take about three weeks per lot. He said the town is preparing signage to address the temporary loss of free parking at the Park Street lot during that work.
Committee member Jack said he has heard directly from merchants frustrated by the parking changes and has separately observed older residents and international visitors struggling to use the new parking kiosks and payment apps.
"I noticed when I was watching a woman there in October, older people are having a very hard time navigating it, and I did not have a solution for that." — Jack, committee member
Susan Schwitzer told the committee delivery trucks, not the kiosks, are the bigger problem downtown.
"I think a bigger problem are the delivery trucks. They come in the middle of the day and they take up two, three, four parking spaces while they unload." — Susan Schwitzer, committee member
Tucker said the new Playhouse ramp is designed to hold roughly three delivery trucks at a time and will be paired with outreach to downtown restaurants to redirect deliveries there. A separate speaker raised the idea of adding artificial intelligence tools to the town's parking kiosks, describing a prior AI art installation project built with ElevenLabs that engaged hundreds of visitors in conversation; Tucker said the kiosk system itself is scheduled for discussion at Thursday's Board of Finance meeting before moving to the Town Council.
Bowman, introducing herself to the committee, described her project in her own words.
"I'm a sophomore at New Canaan High School and I'm working on a national project for a club called FCCLA, and we're supposed to demonstrate our knowledge of the hospitality, tourism and recreation industry." — Grace Bowman, New Canaan High School student
Why It Matters
The Elm Street parking overhaul, in place for roughly a year, has drawn sustained complaints from merchants and shoppers even as officials say it freed up more total parking spaces than before. The still-unfinished Playhouse ramp is the town's chief fix for delivery trucks that members say tie up multiple curbside spaces at once and worsen congestion. Two municipal lots, Park Street and the Playhouse lot, are set to be resized this spring in a process expected to take about three weeks per lot, temporarily reducing free parking downtown. Meanwhile, the town's 250th anniversary programming accelerates through the summer, with the parade set for June 27 and the Historical Society's gala moved up to May 29.
Key Motions & Votes
- Vote: Approve minutes from the December 3 committee meeting Tally: Approved unanimously - Vote: Motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:36 p.m. Tally: Approved unanimously
Source
Town Of New Canaan: Other Committee meeting, March 4, 2026