Following a disagreement between Bill Brennan and Jim Saxe at the Dec. 1, 2014 Bd. of Selectmen meeting over whether they could request an update from Planning & Zoning chairman Chris Hulse about the issue of Wilton’s signage regulations, Hulse made an appearance in front of the BoS last night, Jan. 5.
He briefed the selectmen on how the P&Z Commission will address recent scrutiny over how fair the town’s current signage regulations are to Wilton businesses.
Hulse said he and the other members of P&Z have been working to really familiarize themselves with the extensive regulations. In addition, town planner Robert Nerney is in the process of comparing Wilton’s regulations with those of surrounding towns.
“Our regulations aren’t the strictest, yet they’re not the most lenient. We’re basically in the middle with how our regulations compare to surrounding towns,” Hulse said.
Hulse said that P&Z has reached out to the Wilton Chamber of Commerce, and has asked the organization to find out from its retail members what kind of changes to the town’s signage regulations they’d like to see.
“Collectively, once they’ve been able to do that, invite them in to Planning & Zoning to present to us what about the regulations that they would like to see altered, augmented, enhanced, changed. We though it was the best interest of all businesses to get the feedback from the chamber. They seem very open to doing that, we welcome them after they’ve had a chance to look through everything we’ve compiled and get the feedback of the members of their organization that would be impacted by any changes to the regulations,” Hulse said.
Brennan asked Hulse whether the commission has given thought to getting input from anyone other than members of the Chamber–including input from Wilton residents.
Hulse told the selectmen that P&Z is “open to that,” something that was echoed by the town planner.
“The commission has always been very open to receiving comments from anyone, be it the business community or residents. There are a lot of issues at hand. As part of any planning program you want to encourage viable businesses to locate and stay here in the community, but you balance that with other issues–esthetics, safety. Being able to have that big table discussion and try to get the thoughts of everyone involved in encourage,” Nerney said.
Saxe raised the issue that many business owners are not property owners, and P&Z does not have a regular opportunity for open comment from anyone other than property owners when bringing matters before the commission.
“I’m talking about having a presence at P&Z, and being locked out if you’re not a property owner…”
Nerney responded that everyone would be part of the conversation on signage.
“I don’t think there would be any desire to want to do that. If you have a business owner I don’t see why they wouldn’t at least be able to bring their concerns to the table. They’re very much a part of the community, even though they may not live here. I think it’s important to hear from them,” he said.
Brennan reiterated that point of view.
“Many of the retail businesses are tenants. They are the ones trying to succeed. I think they should have a voice and be able to express their feelings. I think they would be welcome,” he said.
Hulse said that businesses like that would be heard.
“They have a voice. I don’t see a deluge of issues with signage from my perspective. If we’re going to do it, let’s do it in a way that’s comprehensive. Based on the input of the pubic, based on the input of business owners, we’re going to look at specific alterations or modifications that they’d like to see. We want to get things as inclusive as we can so when we make a decision–we won’t make everyone happy, but when we make a decision, hopefully, as a town we’re better off for doing it than not.”
Nerney told the selectmen that the last time regulations were changed–with regard to temporary signs–was during the widening on Rt. 7, to help alleviate issues of poor visibility as a result of the construction.