Residents of Arrowhead Rd. in Wilton urged the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) on Monday, Feb. 23 to reject ASML’s proposal to create a secondary emergency access road through their neighborhood to the company’s facility, arguing the plan raises flooding concerns, conflicts with Wilton’s zoning framework and amounts to illegal spot zoning.
ASML is proposing to demolish an existing house at 39 Arrowhead Rd. and replace it with a paved two-lane road connecting Arrowhead’s cul-de-sac with the parking garage located on the west side of ASML’s campus.
Plans presented to P&Z showed a 24-foot-wide roadway extending from the parking garage to the cul-de-sac — which would be widened to allow emergency vehicles to turn into the access road. With 3-foot shoulders and drainage infrastructure, the road would require significant excavation into the existing hill — at one point cutting as deep as 20 feet — along with retaining walls, erosion controls and landscaping. The road would not be lighted and simple chain barriers between two wooden posts on either end would prevent routine access.
Attorney Matthew Mason, representing both ASML and Michelle and Nicholas Verrone, the owners of 39 Arrowhead Rd., told commissioners that the 28.6-acre ASML campus currently has only one point of access, a bridge from Danbury Rd. over the Norwalk River — a single point of failure in the event that route becomes impassable.
“Safety is a primary consideration for ASML,” Mason said, emphasizing that the secondary access via Arrowhead Rd. would only be used “exclusively during emergencies” and “is not intended for daily traffic, employee commuting or routine operations.”
Mason noted that because Wilton’s zoning regulations don’t define the term “emergency,” ASML proposed its own for events that would trigger use of the emergency driveway: “An unplanned or unforeseen event, whether affecting the bridge the primary access routes, or conditions on the campus itself that makes normal access impractical or unsafe and requires use of an alternative means of access, for example flooding of the Norwalk River, that renders the bridge impassable…”
He downplayed the likelihood of any such event happening.
“To the best of my knowledge, based on my discussions with various people, there hasn’t been an event in recent memory that would have triggered … the use of the emergency access driveway,” Mason added. “The expectation is, is that this driveway will be used very, very, very infrequently and 99.9% of the time is going to be a driveway seemingly to nowhere.”
Traffic studies predicted “minimal” impacts on Danbury Rd. and neighboring roads during emergency uses of the driveway. If the main bridge on Danbury Rd. would need to be closed, short-term use of the driveway (for less than a week) would employ police control at the Arrowhead Rd. intersection and staged or staggered arrivals and departures to minimize traffic congestion. Longer situations would involve temporary signs, markings, traffic cones and diverting ASML employee parking off-site with shuttle service to the facility.
P&Z members pressed ASML on options for alternate locations for the emergency access driveway. Tighe & Bond engineer Joe Canas said one other potential crossing over the Norwalk River was ruled out because it would have caused significant disturbances to wetlands and the flood plain. Use of the Eversource right-of-way behind the facility was ruled out because the existing access road is not graded for emergency vehicles, and the utility does not want to grant access to ASML. Canas said installing a bridge from ASML’s Hollyhock Rd. parking lot presented drainage issues and “doesn’t work geometrically.”
Commissioner Trevor Huffard asked if ASML had met with Arrowhead Rd. neighbors about the scope of the project. “Has there been a dialogue between counsel and the neighbors about what’s taking place, what it will mean, anything like that?”
“There were discussions in the past when ASML was contemplating a different project, and there were extensive discussions over a lengthy period of time,” Mason said. “And then for a variety of reasons, that project became unfeasible and ASML then changed its focus strictly to the emergency access driveway.”
“When They Flood, We Flood”
During public comment, several Wilton residents, including Arrowhead Community Association members, spoke in opposition to the proposal, refuting many of the claims made by ASML and raising a wide range of concerns.
Pamela Musor, of 40 Arrowhead Rd., said that rezoning the 1.6-acre residential lot to commercial would erode the town’s zoning laws.
“Rezoning a longstanding residential community for commercial development would certainly open the door for the commission to normalize that idea of residential zoning can be reclassified whenever a commercial enterprise requests a change,” she said, adding it would permanently change the neighborhood and depress property values.
Musor disputed ASML’s claim that there has not been recent flooding at Arrowhead Road.
“Let me put this simply: When they flood, we flood.” In fact, she said, recent flooding had required the Wilton Fire Department to evacuate several residents by boat — referring to the floods of August 2024.
Jeffrey Musor agreed that flooding does occur there, and that “the idea that flooding is unknown is just unbelievable.”
Sarah Granite of 16 Arrowhead Road described the application as classic spot zoning — the application of different zoning regulations to an individual property, often for the benefit of the property owner over the considerations of the neighborhood or community.
“This isn’t just about a driveway; ASML is asking for a permanent zone map change to convert a residential lot into an industrial zone,” Granite said. “This is spot zoning in its purest form. Once you rezone this property, the residential protection that we have is gone forever. You’re moving the industrial border of this town directly into our neighbor’s backyard to solve a private company’s design deficiency,” she said.
“If a global giant like ASML can’t manage its own 28-acre campus, the solution is better engineering on their part, not the legal destruction of our residential zoning,” Granite added.
Laura Indelicati, an attorney representing Sabrina Gibbs of 25 Arrowhead Rd., gave a detailed presentation outlining why the requested zone change and special permit was inconsistent with the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) and represented illegal spot zoning.
“What they’re looking for is business continuity, and business continuity is not an emergency for the town of Wilton and not an emergency that can be considered when determining whether or not the zone change is appropriate,” argued Indelicati. “It’s the private property interest of ASML and not a basis for granting this zone change.”
Her remarks sparked a brief contretemps with P&Z Chair Ken Hoffman, who objected to the lengthy presentation not having been submitted to P&Z for review prior to the public hearing.
“You’re lecturing us on the zoning regulations and, [while] I appreciate the education, … you’re reading parts of those paragraphs. You’re not reading the entire paragraphs. You’re making presumptions, whether we know that or not. There’s a lot of things about this presentation I would have appreciated in advance,” Hoffman said.
Commissioner Anthony Cenatiempo countered that commissioners could take that into account during deliberations.
“To the extent that anybody in the commission has a disagreement or a critique of counsel’s presentation, that certainly goes to the weight of the presentation. I don’t think it prohibits counsel from making her statements or arguments. And we can certainly question her about it at the end of her presentation or take it into consideration when we’re considering how much credibility and what we want to give it,” he said.
Some residents described how the change in zoning would have a detrimental impact on the neighborhood — and go against what Wilton’s Plan of Conservation and Development is meant to protect for residential neighborhoods.
Alyssa Brady of 302 Belden Hill Rd. referred to the balancing growth and progress with what residents want.
“Everyone in this town certainly understands that ASML is a very important taxpayer and a very important neighbor,” Brady said. ” … However, … we look to this document [the POCD] to understand, but this town’s trusted servants, you know, are going to adhere to, or at least aim to follow.”
“I would just really encourage ASML to go back and sharpen their pencils and look at some other alternatives that would not impact this neighborhood,” she added.
Wilton resident Barbara Geddis called the matter a “Hobson’s choice” — a situation with only one option available, forcing a choice between that option or nothing.
“We want to protect our residential neighborhoods. It is in the POCD. … There has to be an alternative. You have the best experts, you have some of the best engineers, I know some of them. There’s got to be an alternative,” she said.
Ericalynn Arnold, a 30-year resident of Arrowhead Rd., recalled flooding in 2024, 2011, and 2007 that rendered the road impassable.
She too talked about protecting the residential neighborhood for the families that reside there.
“I moved to this town because of its desire for maintaining residential neighborhoods. I moved to this town to be part of a residential town that I enjoy. And I hope that you will reject ASML’s application and let us live … our lives. Let us maintain our neighborhood, keep our kids safe. Someday I hope to have grandchildren. I’d like to keep them safe too,” Arnold said.
Following the conclusion of public remarks, P&Z voted unanimously to keep the public hearing open until the next meeting on Monday, March 9. At that time, following any additional public comments, ASML will have an opportunity to offer rebuttal remarks before P&Z will deliberate on the zoning change and special permit applications.
Work Sessions Address Proposed State Bill, Effect of Funding Shortfall on Regulation Reviews
Later in the three-hour meeting Director of Planning and Land Use Management Michael Wrinn alerted commissioners to Senate Bill 151, “An Act Prohibiting Certain Land Use and Zoning Limitations on Housing,” currently under consideration in the Connecticut General Assembly. Wrinn called many of the provisions in the bill “pretty drastic,” and promised to circulate the text of the bill to P&Z members for review.
Wrinn said that he and his staff are continuing to review what P&Z must do to comply with the state’s new housing law, H.B. 8002, an Act Concerning Housing Growth. As previously reported by GOOD Morning Wilton, uncertainty over the status of $100,000 in the Planning and Zoning Department budget temporarily dampened plans to select consultants to draft required regulation updates to comply with the new law — and also hampered P&Z’s plans to hire other consultants to update Wilton’s zoning regulations, draft the Cannondale master plan, and prepare for the next POCD.
Wrinn said the town is “honing in” on the location of the funds, and expects to have answers from the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance — including whether their authorizations have expired — by the next P&Z meeting. The commission does still have $120,000 available for consultants and will need to discuss how to prioritize that funding.
P&Z also briefly discussed hiring a consultant to perform an independent third-party peer review of traffic for a separate project currently before the Architectural Review Board. Commissioners agreed to ask the ARB to clarify its mandate and P&Z’s expectations on future submissions from ARB to P&Z.
Due to delays caused by Monday’s snowstorm, P&Z voted to reschedule the public hearing on the proposal to divide 166 Nod Hill Road into a four-lot subdivision to the March 9 meeting.