“Amateur Hour”: The Clock is Running out for 300 Danbury Rd.’s Redevelopment Hopes

Trouble continued for the stalled redevelopment site at 300 Danbury Rd. during Monday’s (Feb. 12) Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. Five years have passed since the redevelopment proposal known as Wilton Heights received a green light from P&Z. Since then, two developers have walked off the project and the dilapidated structures at the intersection of Danbury Rd. and Ridgefield Rd. have grown increasingly unsightly.

In November, the Board of Selectmen voted to extend Wilton’s blight ordinance to apply to commercial properties and added “chipped, blistered, flaking or peeling paint” to the list of conditions that constitute blight. This month, 300 Danbury Rd.’s representative, Kevin O’Brien, approached the town about an extension of the original 2019 approval, which will hit its five-year expiration date on Mar. 1.

O’Brien assured the Commission that he has two developers looking at the site currently, one of whom wants to start over and the other who wants to work with the existing approval but request a modification to reduce the amount of ground floor retail. He also shared some grievances about the town’s crack down on derelict commercial buildings.  

“The town went out of its way to change the [blight regulations] last year in order to make us comply that we do have [blight],” O’Brien said. “So we’re either going to have to paint the buildings now, or knock them down. To knock down all the buildings and put a fence around it would look worse than it does with the peeling paint.”

“That whole mentality is everything that is wrong with this application,” Commissioner Chris Pagliaro responded. “I’m not in favor of extending it. This is amateur hour. It is an eyesore to this community at one of its most important intersections.” Referring to the town’s current sewer capacity issues, he pointed out that having an approved but unbuilt project in town limits the sewer capacity available to new buildings being proposed today.

Looking ahead to next steps, Town Planner Michael Wrinn explained that P&Z staff are waiting to hear back from the law department clarifying an unusual public act that says applicants “shall have” a 19-year extension of previously approved development plans.

The Commission agreed to discuss the issue again at the Feb. 26 meeting.

Elsewhere on the agenda, the Commission voted unanimously to pass state-mandated changes to Wilton’s regulations regarding electric vehicle charging stations. Going forward, any new or expanded commercial or multifamily residential development with more than 30 designated parking spaces must offer electric vehicle charging stations in at least 10% of its parking spaces.

They also scheduled three public hearings for Monday, Feb. 26 covering the following topics:

• ASML’s application to convert a loading dock at the company’s 20 Westport Rd. building into a lab and clean room.
• The Commission’s project to codify Wilton’s pandemic-era outdoor dining regulations into permanent design guidelines and rules. Of particular interest to the Commission is how to allow outdoor dining without opening the door to permanently enclosed expansions like the patio at Cactus Rose in Wilton Center.
• A State-mandated change to Wilton’s at home daycare regulations to remove the existing requirement that group child care homes apply for a special permit before beginning operation.