The website ccrcfornc.org states:

Q: Was this the type of Waveny land usage envisioned by Mrs. Ruth Lapham Lloyd?

A: Most definitely.

Q: Are “Open Space” and a CCRC on Lapham Road mutually exclusive concepts?

A: Absolutely not

Statements like “Most definitely” and “Absolutely not” do not allow for debate, they are absolute and definitive. Statements such as these are definitively one-sided and absolutely preferential. They want this facility built on our public park solely for financial reasons and they will put forth only the information that benefits their tenacious efforts to destroy woodlands in the name of financial gain. Read the site!

On a personal level, I currently face the difficult process of transitioning my father from Home Care to a Life-Care Facility. Currently we are looking for just such a facility as a CCRC. Finding issue with the development of a CCRC in Waveny Park is something that contradicts my own personal needs. I would love nothing more than to end my interstate commute and long-distance worry and have my father here with me, at home in New Canaan.

I wouldn’t have written this post if it weren’t for this statement:

“Like the majority of projects built to-date on Waveny land, a CCRC on Lapham Road would be situated on its perimeter – allowing for the continued preservation of wide expanses of openness throughout the heart of the property.”

…the continued preservation of openness? WHAT? openness???? You mean, we had a forest, without which there would be no life on planet earth. Someone came and destroyed the abundant flora and fauna of a beautiful New England woodlands to create openness. Now we care about preserving openness? Honestly, are there any conservation organizations that preserve an empty field? You can’t breathe without trees, people!

Read the website ccrcfornc.org and you will likely be stopped short of breath by the outright deceptive perspective.

From ccrcfornc.org:

“A CCRC project built on Town-owned land would be done through a lease agreement, wherein the Town would receive annual lease payments in excess of $1M. This steady and dependable boost to the Town’s annual revenue could help launch yet-unfunded special town projects, maintain and improve park grounds, or even fund the purchase of additional land for Open Space use.”

Does this paragraph make sense to you? Destroy our park so we can have money to buy a new park?

From ccrcfornc.org:

“We are committed to a project pricing structure that reflects the economic diversity of the Town of New Canaan, with units priced well below the average/median price or assessed value of homes in town.”

According to Zillow.com that price today is; New Canaan $1,038,900. “Well below that”, could represent the information on AARP.org – Entrance fees of $400,000 with monthly dues of $2,500. Unfortunately even those costs, from existing CCRC’s in neighborhoods nowhere near the caliber of New Canaan, preclude admitting my 83 year old father; retired business executive and long-term resident of New Canaan.

From Wikipedia:

Continuing-care communities are ideal for seniors that may be living in isolation, and would like to be immersed in a hospitable environment with other people of the same age. Typically, a range of activities and amenities are provided for both recreation and resource. However, CCRCs are costly, and vary widely in entrance and recurring fees. Often, a life-care contract is required, and the stipulations within such contracts can also vary in terms of service. It is important for any considering such contracts to have anelder law attorney review its terms and ensure legitimacy.

From seniorresource.com:

“CCRCs are highly regulated in some states but no federal agency oversees retirement communities. The Continuing Care Accreditation Commisson (CCAC), a private nonprofit organizaiton, accredits these communities. ….For more information contact the Continuing Care Accreditation Commission www.ccaconline.org.”

It is questionable if my father will still be with us by the time we cut down the trees, pave over the fields, develop the earth for concrete foundations and construct so many commercial buildings in Waveny Park. What is unquestionable is the fact that a New Canaan CCRC will replace nature with an exclusive facility, according to George M. “…for 200-250 units (mostly holding 2 people in each).”

From ccrcfornc.org:

“More importantly, a CCRC on the site would be developed to fit into the hillside and not obstruct the vistas from either Waveny Park or Lapham Road. This former dairy farm pasture-turned-scrub-forest-and-mulch pile would be enhanced and beautified to increase its open space features and accommodate a CCRC.”

How are they going to hide 200 homes, administration buildings, care facilities, septic accommodations, driveways, garbage containment, massive traffic flow, vehicles and more?

Again, on a personal level, I find the ways New Canaan has changed over the past 10 years to be upsetting. I plan on moving away within the next decade, but just as I wrote the State of Connecticut almost 30 years ago pleading not to widen the Merritt Parkway, I hope you will all consider we have athe few acres of public land left in New Canaan. If the wealthy want a home, they can afford it. Without a full disclosure of proposed costs per unit, number of units, number of residents and overall environmental and economic costs, I am 100% opposed to destroying Lapham Road with traffic for hundreds of new residents.

Visitors may not have been able to view images attached to posts during this maintenance. Thanks for your patience with the state of affairs. Have a peaceful Memorial Day.

Waveny Fields, May 22nd

Thanks to my fantastic .sql editing and software administration Waveny.net is a fantastic multi-user site with increasingly more features!

Special thanks today for NextGen Gallery, Waveny.net’s image management software.

If you’re curious; I had moved waveny.net to a wordpressMU install on a new server a few months back in an attempt to make updating the backend easier. There were too many issues with WPMU like:

• Remote log-in, (which would allow additional authors on Waveny.net)
• Integrating the attached forum (which is dedicated to Waveny Park Information)
• Sharing the WPMU database (full of ‘private’ websites)

Unrelated to the issues with WPMU, the gallery software stopped functioning and I was unable to create galleries for the past few months. I had been stuffiing the images into previously titled galleries but it was causing errors in older articles. It took many hours of sifting through the database files to figure out the problem after moving the site back to standalone WordPress.

Waveny.net is now looking good! – 100 articles and 400 images – All the administration software is current and working great. There are many new features to the site, like the addition of a public forum for Waveny conversations. With a few more hours of programming we should have a log-in on the homepage and profile pages for anyone interested in contributing.

Please register and log-in to the Waveny.net forum and take advantage of the opportunity to share your Waveny Park Experiences or post an upcoming game schedule. Finally I’m turning Waveny.net into an open resource for our beautiful public park.

The truth won’t come from the glamorous journalism of the New Canaan Advertiser, nor from the politicians who approved the immolation of the cornfield area.

The ‘Cornfield Alliance’ is asking for $250,000 for a project titled “Waveny Cornfield Restoration Project” that has stated restoration is not the goal of the project.

• Clear invasive shrubs in overgrown fields.
• Clear stone fences and trees of choking vines.
• Re-distribute and grade pond fill.
• Replant fields and borders with natural grass, native wild flowers and shrubs.
• Build a trail, and add benches.

Re-distribute and grade pond fill?
The “pond fill” was newly introduced and contains thousands of plastic bags, bottles and rubbish, scrap metal, tires and literally tons of crude oil. Re-distributing that material can in no discernible way represent restoration of the habitat.

restoration – noun
1 the action of returning something to a former owner, place, or condition

Building a trail and adding benches is considered Restoring?

When the proposal was heard by the Park and Recreation Commission, there was a question as to what the annual maintenance cost would be for mowing the area once it is cleared.
Not only did they save money by using our public parkland as a dumping grounds for unsightly and hazardous waste, but also saved on the mowing expense that just five years ago Parks and Rec. handled without complaint. I guess they forgot the not-so-distant past when this was a field abundant with wildlife. I haven’t.

Without removing all traces of foreign soil, all toxins and all pollution from the area it cannot be restored. The truth is Waveny Park will never be the same. From the moment the diesel trucks began delivering sludge, the ground began to absorb the toxins, the wildlife displaced and the area contaminated.

There is a difference between ‘neglect’ and ‘abuse’ just as there is a difference between ‘restoration’ and ‘transformation’. If it were an “alliance” asking for funds to ‘transform’ the ‘abused’ area into a path through planted fields, I wouldn’t have gone out and taken pictures while I am sick as a dog.

The initial proposal of the CCRC to build on Waveny property cited the low cost of Waveny land relative to privately owned property nearby and the Town cited the income from the sale of our heritage as reason in favor. Since I’m not sleeping in the same bed, I’m overwhelmed with a discouraging air of disappointment.

When there are 75 extremely wealthy people living directly under falling fireworks debris what will become of 10,000 people’s Family Fourth?

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Other contact submissions I have received included a most interesting proposal for a privately funded trust to outbid the CCRC. The email offered an amount equivalent to several million dollars per acre from only two trustees. Imagine if the town allowed people who would rather see forest forever to outbid those that want to pave and charge admission to a select few.

I would be willing to donate to such a conservation land trust.

Don’t you find people’s motivations entirely interesting? Why one person votes one way and another opposes… There’s always a reason.

How to free up parking for the Waveny Paddle Courts? How to frustrate hundreds of weekly visitors? Nice big orange CLOSED sign stuffed into the gate. Nice chain and padlock. Nice beautiful weather in a gorgeous town park on a lovely February weekend.

On Wednesday I heard a great suggestion. If the town cut Spencer’s Run in half, the lower half that doesnt’ suffer from grass issues could be used for a dog park and the upper half could be returned to it’s natural condition. This would please the growing group of citizens concerned about Waveny’s dwindling landscape. Imagine admiting one’s errors and returning several acres to God.

Dear God,

You did a marvelous job with this land throughout the ages. We stole a bit of it for ourselves but we can’t even grow grass. Therefore we humbly return the land to the care of a professional.
Sincerely, Waveny Park.

[Show as slideshow]

I went to pick up something my dog deposited and these two dogs followed me. I loved the sound they made crunching through the thin layer of ice in the snow. Half of the fun in Spencer’s Run is playing with other people’s dogs.

Spencersrun.org posted an excuse why the Waveny Park dog run has predominately been locked since September. Alas our dog park seems to be a garden project for the next year.

Since September of this year, the powers that be have tried in vain to place form before function.

Modernists adopted the equations; form follows function and ornament is crime as moral principles. They genuinely believe that form comes at the expense of function.

The theory of “form follows function” is problematic but never-the-less can be applied to this situation! It appears that we are bound to provide a lovely green oasis or we can’t use the space. However, we do not use the dog park for it’s shape, topography, or vegetation. We do not visit the dog park to pamper our feet or offer our pets a glimpse into the country club lifestyle. We do visit the dog park to allow our dogs to socialize freely within a fenced area and to enjoy a camaraderie with other visitors. The experience of visiting a dog park can be heart-warming, exciting, enjoyable and gratifying but most of all practical. We are there to allow our pets to socialize. Social time with other canines is essential for the well-rounded psychology and fitness of our pets. My dog does not come to Spencer’s Run for a luxurious experience between her toes, or for the aesthetic qualities of the cage she is allowed to socialize freely within.

Mounting frustrations and disappointment at the closure of the dog run are understandable. Tensions within a pet owner’s household run higher when the dog wants out and the lack of activity leads to behavior that is less than comforting. The park is a great escape!

What is it called when you agree to something, to get your way, knowing full well you can never meet your requirements? Why did we cut down all those trees and destroy the Natural setting? ..to prove we could grow grass against the worst of odds?

Dog parks vary from flat fields like Noroton to unfenced woodland like Greenwich, from small urban lots in Manhattan to a large dirt run in Golden Gate Park. They are visited by four-legged creatures who walk on paws with 16 claws making contact with the ground. They run circles around any and all of us. They can dash, dodge, leap and crash to the ground hundreds of times in an hour. Every time they move, their claws take positive grip on all but the hardest of surfaces. They have powerful legs with claws.

Now think function dictates form and find your solution so we can use the dog park for what it is.

A prime example why future development of our irreplaceable Natural landscape is worthy of exhaustive investigating before approval.