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Thursday, July 24, 2008

07/24/08 Greenwich Post News Links For Thursday


Shopping around

Cocoon employee Gary Davla makes sure everything is in order at the start of Saturday’s sidewalk sales on Greenwich Avenue. Despite the heat, the avenue was packed with shoppers during the final day of the three-day event.
(David Ames / Greenwich Post photo)
“Those who knowingly violate pool safety codes designed to protect children should be held accountable for their actions.”

...the Town of Greenwich, which, the lawsuit says, ignored “multiple obvious code violations” when it approved the pool for use. The suit also lists other defendants, including the engineer who designed the pool.

According to the arrest warrant, Mr. Lionetti, president of Shoreline Pools, failed to have his company install mandated safety devices in the pool. It is alleged that the safety devices would have prevented Zachary’s death...

While the private neighborhoods of Greenwich were able to install fences and speed bumps to reduce speeding and divert traffic, the homes on the town’s public roads were previously left unprotected... until now.

The town’s traffic calming program, which started last summer, will begin its first construction project. This program is the town’s attempt to give all Greenwich residents a fair chance to install traffic calming devices in their neighborhood.

The initial qualification is straightforward: The neighborhood must receive signatures from half of its residences. Once the town approves the application, Kevin Conroy, a project manager from Fuss and O’Neill, collects data concerning the traffic of the street to determine the severity of the situation...

....According to professional engineer Craig Flaherty of Redniss and Mead, Inc., even at peak flood times, the 20-acre property would flood at a lesser rate than it does now. In addition, the volume at those spots will decrease with the proposed subdivision, he said, except near Nutmeg Drive.

John Maxwell, a resident of Alec Templeton Lane, warned the agency not to approve the proposal because he said it would add to the runoff on his property that is under water during flooding season. Agency members said, though, that his land would be left unchanged, for better or worse.

Besides the fears of flooding, some residents mentioned the possible safety hazards that could come from too much runoff.

Neighbor Karl Schultz discussed the danger of water levels rising dramatically even within a few hours, and that small children playing outside could drown in such a flood...

The town’s Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) released last week emphasizes environmental planning and making maximum use of town resources.

Town Planner Diane Fox unveiled the plan, which is updated every 10 years by state law, at a press conference last Wednesday with Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Donald Heller and commission member Frank Farricker. The plan contains about 250 recommendations, covering topics from downtown and neighborhood development to the Cos Cob Power Plant, and is designed to organize and set priorities for the town over the next decade while providing a vision for growth and change.

To that end, Ms. Fox said concentration on environmental management and energy conservation was critical.

“We had a considerable number of meetings while forming this draft and the biggest issue was the environment,” she said. “We need to protect the environment and create standards and regulations that will help us do that.”...

The widow of George Smith, the Greenwich man who went missing from his honeymoon cruise, claimed Friday that Mr. Smith mixed prescription drugs with alcohol when he disappeared on July 5, 2005. Jennifer Hagel Smith, in a press release, said that Mr. Smith’s “intoxication from the combined effects of alcohol and prescription drugs may have contributed to his disappearance.”

Ms. Hagel Smith, whose $1.1-million settlement with Royal Caribbean International is being challenged in Stamford Superior Court by the Smith family, said that she has “sought to keep this private,” but “is now required to make public this information to defend against the Smith family’s attack on both the settlement agreement and her personally.”

In an e-mail to the Post, Ms. Hagel Smith said, “I have sat back for over three years and allowed the Smith family and their representatives to endlessly attack my character and I have refused to respond in kind because of my loyalty to George.”...

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