Canaan/Falls Village Board of Selectmen
9/14/26 6:03 p.m.
Present: First Selectman David Barger. Selectmen Christopher Kinsella and Judy Jacobs.
About 20 residents from Pine Grove in the Town of Canaan/Falls Village sent a message to the Board of Selectmen (BOS): The exit from Pine Grove to Belden Street can be dangerous and needs signage. Pine Grove is home to several older adults, noted Barger, who read a note from the residents at the BOS Sept. 14 meeting.
“The intersection represents significant safety concern for residents attempting to exit Pine Grove due to limited visibility and the difficulty in seeing or hearing oncoming traffic on Belden Street,” Barger said, reading the letter. “It can be challenging to determine when it's safe to pull out.”
For some residents, he added, the lack of signage warning drivers to be cautious is especially difficult because of age-related hearing or vision limitations.
Despite these pleas, the BOS said they don’t believe they can do much to help.
“Route 126 is a state road, and the Falls Village Highway Department does not have anything to do with signage along there,” Barger said. “And I did send an email to the group over at Pine Grove, telling them that we would be contacting Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) District Four regarding signage.”
Barger said he planned to tell the representative for the State DOT to address the matter when they met Sept. 15, as the official was expected to visit Canaan/Falls Village then.
Kinsella said he is familiar with the area and agrees with the residents. “I can attest to that.
9/14/26 6:03 p.m.
Present: First Selectman David Barger. Selectmen Christopher Kinsella and Judy Jacobs.
About 20 residents from Pine Grove in the Town of Canaan/Falls Village sent a message to the Board of Selectmen (BOS): The exit from Pine Grove to Belden Street can be dangerous and needs signage. Pine Grove is home to several older adults, noted Barger, who read a note from the residents at the BOS Sept. 14 meeting.
“The intersection represents significant safety concern for residents attempting to exit Pine Grove due to limited visibility and the difficulty in seeing or hearing oncoming traffic on Belden Street,” Barger said, reading the letter. “It can be challenging to determine when it's safe to pull out.”
For some residents, he added, the lack of signage warning drivers to be cautious is especially difficult because of age-related hearing or vision limitations.
Despite these pleas, the BOS said they don’t believe they can do much to help.
“Route 126 is a state road, and the Falls Village Highway Department does not have anything to do with signage along there,” Barger said. “And I did send an email to the group over at Pine Grove, telling them that we would be contacting Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) District Four regarding signage.”
Barger said he planned to tell the representative for the State DOT to address the matter when they met Sept. 15, as the official was expected to visit Canaan/Falls Village then.
Kinsella said he is familiar with the area and agrees with the residents. “I can attest to that. It is real dangerous,” he noted.
In other business, the Selectmen discussed the use of dehumidifiers in the Town Hall basement to preserve voting machines.
“They can't be left in a damp area,” Barger said. “We are looking at industrial size dehumidifiers to take care of that and help preserve our records. It's something probably we should have looked at a long time ago.”
Another item of discussion was the consolidation of security alarms for Town buildings. Barger said all the Town-owned government buildings have a security alarm under one company — except for Canaan/Falls Village’s Town Hall.
“I'm not quite sure how that happened a number of years ago, but this building was contracted off to a different company, and what we'd like to do is consolidate all of the alarms with the one alarm company,” Barger said. “Just easier for one-stop shopping.”
Barger announced that the Town’s transfer station has entered the Connecticut Tire Stewardship Program. The Town, however, is still awaiting guidance from state officials regarding the effort.
“They have offered to give us a container for the tires,” Barger noted. “I'm not quite sure at this point how that's going to work, whether or not it's going to be a receptacle where we could put the tires in, and then they just remove the entire trailer, or whether or not it's going to be some sort of semi-permanent structure. So, I'm waiting for some answer on that.”
Under the program, transfer stations can accept unwanted tires at no cost to residents for recycling. From there, the tires will be collected and sent to one of five processors in Connecticut and Massachusetts, which will either resell them or find another way to keep them from being dumped in a landfill, according to program guidelines.
The meeting adjourned at 6:33 p.m. on a motion by Jacobs, second by Kinsella, and unanimous vote.
The next BOS meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 13.
