Key Points
- Wilton’s ARB proposed revisions to strengthen design standards for state-mandated middle housing developments before they return to P&Z for review.
- ARB members focused on creating clear, enforceable standards for building materials, architectural details and site design because qualifying projects receive only summary local review.
- The recommendations aim to preserve Wilton’s architectural character while complying with Connecticut’s new housing law.
Why It Matters: With Connecticut’s new housing law limiting local review of qualifying middle housing projects, Wilton’s zoning regulations may become the town’s primary tool for influencing the design and appearance of future developments.
Wilton’s Architectural Review Board (ARB) proposed changes to the updated zoning regulations for transit community middle housing that will help the town exert at least some control over the design of these new projects, which are exempt from the traditional planning and zoning review process.
Board members spent over 90 minutes during their Jul. 9 meeting discussing changes to the new middle housing chapter, which was hurriedly passed by the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) just ahead of the state’s July 1 deadline to ensure compliance with Connecticut’s new housing law, Special Session Public Act 25-1, an Act Concerning Housing Growth.
Middle housing units are small residential developments located on commercially zoned properties, consisting of between 2-9 units in one or more buildings. According to PA 25-1, middle housing projects are subject only to a summary review by a town’s zoning enforcement officer — meaning that any proposed development meeting the material and design requirements in the town’s zoning regulations would be approved administratively, rather than by P&Z.
Director of Planning and Land Use Management Michael Wrinn told the ARB members that no one is sure yet how this fast-track process will work in practice, and because of that the town’s middle housing regulations could be in flux until things settle into a routine. However, he expected that towns will not have much leverage with which to push back against middle housing proposals, making it all the more imperative that the regulations be detailed and thorough.
“The trick is going to be, as these [applications] come in … that you can point to a particular line in here that says, for instance, ‘Use of textured surfaces, grooves, split-face block, shall be prohibited,'” Wrinn said. “So, you [want to] have things in there that the zoning officer can look at and say, ‘You comply with this’ or ‘You don’t.'”
Wilton Center Master Plan is the Blueprint
In order to have a set of middle housing regulations approved and on the books by the state’s deadline, Wrinn and his staff adopted the existing design guidelines from the Greater Wilton Center Master Plan — the town’s most recent set of zoning regulations — as the basis for them. When P&Z approved the revised regulations, it acknowledged that the regulations would be amended in the near future to incorporate guidance from the ARB’s experts in architectural design.
Accordingly, during the Jul. 9 meeting the ARB members went through the document page by page, identifying language that could be added, modified, and deleted in order to ensure that future middle housing developments would hew to the town’s architectural standards.
ARB members agreed with member Lynley Middleberg’s suggestion that the existing language be tightened up by replacing “should” with “shall” throughout, so that developers don’t interpret guidelines as simply recommendations.
“My English teacher mother would be very proud that I picked up on that,” Middleberg joked.
The board members strengthened requirements governing exterior materials, blank walls, mechanical equipment, roof design and façade modulation in an effort to eliminate ambiguity and give zoning staff clear standards when reviewing applications.
“I mean, the devil’s in the details,” Wrinn said. “We can look at the windows and that makes all the difference in the world.”
Board member Kathy Poirier suggested that concrete block be limited to use in building foundations. The commissioners agreed with the existing guidance specifying that street-facing exterior walls should not be blank, and the architectural treatments of all external walls should match the front.
Mechanical systems such as HVAC units, mini-splits, and heat pumps will need to be ground mounted, screened and located at the rear of the development.
ARB members discussed mansard roofs — roofs that have two slopes per side, like a classic barn roof — at great length because of their potential to affect the two-and-a-half story maximum overall height on residential buildings. Eventually, they settled on language specifying that if used they should have “historically appropriate proportions and roof slopes.” They also agreed to delete the requirement that the lower roofs of setbacks must be either a garden, terrace, or balcony, and prohibited the use of
Under the revised guidelines, solar shingles — photovoltaic solar panels designed to look like traditional roof shingles — will be allowed provided they match the look of other approved roofing materials.
The board members agreed to scale down the dimensions of horizontal and vertical modulation — measurements used to help ensure the visual harmony of a building’s architectural elements — to dimensions more suited to small residential buildings. Designs that incorporate existing façades will still be required to meet the regulations’ modulation requirements.
Natural Resources Incentives Considered
Poirier noted that the revised guidelines offer an opportunity for the town to encourage the improvement of commercial properties in ways other than purely architectural.
“Part of our town’s fabric is the fact that we have all these two-acre zones and we have a very strict coverage law on it in comparison to other towns that surround us, and what that has done, I think, has made us a very green, forested town,” Poirier said. “In the commercial districts, I think we are actually completely opposite. You can pave from edge to edge practically, and right up to the river.”
Poirier recommended offering incentives for developers whose proposals include elements like permeable pavers and pocket parks that encourage the conservation or restoration of natural resources in commercial districts that otherwise lack them.
“It shouldn’t just be about … the few old buildings that we’re trying to preserve in town,” she said. “I think there’s other things worth preserving in our town as well.”
“Or to your point, worth creating, right?” agreed ARB Chair Kevin Quinlan.
Next Steps
Wrinn will take the comments and suggestions offered by the ARB members, along with written remarks submitted by ARB Vice-Chair John Doyle, who was unable to attend the meeting, and prepare a revised draft that he will distribute to the commissioners early in the week of Jul. 13. Then, the ARB will convene a brief special meeting, perhaps as soon as the week of Jul. 27, to review and approve the revised draft in preparation for submitting them to P&Z.
As they wrapped up after the long and intensive meeting, Wrinn thanked the ARB members for their effort, and they in turn expressed their appreciation for his and his staff’s hard work to prepare the chapter.
“We shall get it done,” Quinlan said.
