An email sent by First Selectman Toni Boucher to P&Z Chair Ken Hoffman and Director of Planning and Land Use Management Michael Wrinn shortly before the Monday, Apr. 27 meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) caused the commission to delay a scheduled discussion and action on the proposed emergency access road connecting the ASML campus at 77 Danbury Rd. to Arrowhead Rd. until town counsel can weigh in on what the commission is allowed to do next.
The timing and content of the Boucher’s message were notable: the email contained unsolicited information highlighting the significant tax revenue ASML contributes to the Town, and — while its intent was unclear — it prompted a strong reaction from P&Z’s chair, who questioned whether it was meant to influence the commission’s vote that evening.
“I’m not happy”
“About an hour or so ago, I received a communication from the First Selectman of Wilton,” Hoffman said at the outset of the discussion.
“I don’t know whether [it pertained to the ASML application] or why I received that an hour ago. It listed some things about the level of … money paid by different taxpayers in town. And the hearings on this [application] had been closed, and public comment had been closed, and it was up to us to deliberate. However, I don’t want to have any deliberations on this until town counsel appears before this commission and tells us what happens when the First Selectperson sends us a communication like that only an hour or so before a decision is supposed to be made.”
“What I want town counsel to give us their opinion on, is should someone be bold enough to send us something like this an hour before a hearing — which may or may not have been designed to sway our opinion — whether or not I can ignore it or not.”
“I’m not happy about having received such a communication, but … I would like town counsel to appear before us and explain what we are supposed to do now, whether we have to reopen the [hearing] so the public can comment on this communication or not,” Hoffman added.
The six seated commissioners agreed to put the discussion on hold until they have guidance from town counsel.
The commission’s anticipated vote followed weeks of public hearings and deliberations marked by sharply divided testimony, centered on whether the road should be limited strictly to emergency use or allow some level of business continuity.
Residents consistently opposed the proposal, citing concerns about neighborhood safety, character and quality of life, and arguing that ASML’s reluctance to limit the road strictly to emergency use suggested the company was prioritizing business interests. ASML representatives, meanwhile, stressed the need for reliable access to “support operations and business continuity during emergencies.
Despite that divide, commissioners indicated in prior meetings they were inclined to approve the application, but only with strict conditions. During an Apr. 13 discussion, they held a straw poll and directed staff to draft a compromise resolution balancing the needs of ASML, Arrowhead Rd. residents and the town. The draft under review would have allowed limited “continuity of operations” use by emergency personnel and essential workers in emergency scenarios, while stopping short of permitting routine or unrestricted access.
The first selectman’s email was sent less than three hours before the commission was set to take up the resolution.
Slide Shows Top Taxpayers on 2025 Grand List
The email, a copy of which was provided to GOOD Morning Wilton Tuesday morning, was sent at 4:40 p.m. from Boucher’s official town email address to Hoffman, Wrinn and Chief Financial Officer Dawn Savo, cc’ing Director of Environmental Affairs Michael Conklin, with the subject line “Wilton’s top taxpayers.” Its importance was set to “High.”
The entirety of the email was a screen grab of what appears to be a PowerPoint slide from a presentation on the proposed Fiscal Year 2027 Board of Selectmen (BOS) budget for next week’s Annual Town Meeting (ATM), listing the top five taxpayers according to the 2025 Grand List.
The slide shows that ASML was by far the largest single taxpayer to the town in 2025. Using the proposed 25.4 mill rate, in FY 2027 ASML would pay nearly $12.5 million in taxes on assessed property values of nearly $500 million.
In her initial response, Boucher told GMW that she did not remember that there was a P&Z meeting that night. and she sent the information to Wrinn “for information purposes” after she finished drafting her ATM presentation. She included Hoffman on the email “as a courtesy.”
Asked whether she had sent the information in response to a request by Wrinn or anyone else, Boucher said it was sent “just as an FYI” to Savo as well.
“It will be shared at our ATM as we always do as an example of who the major contributors to the Grand List are,” Boucher said.
Was Boucher’s Letter an Attempt to Sway the Vote?
Last night, P&Z commissioners were set to review the wording of a revised draft of a resolution that would grant at least some limited continuity-of-operations traffic along the proposed emergency access road, allowing emergency personnel and essential workers to use the road to repair damage and “secure and maintain ongoing operations.”
Commissioner Anthony Cenatiempo said that, regardless of whether or not a vote would be taken at the meeting, his opinion had not changed and he was prepared to vote on the application that night. During P&Z’s Apr. 13 meeting, Cenatiempo had said he generally favored allowing limited continuity-of-business traffic on the emergency road, though it should not be construed as the town granting ASML carte blanche.
“I think last time [Apr. 13] we had a straw poll, and we had a … whole discussion about what we wanted Michael [Wrinn] to include in his resolutions. And I stated my opinion then, [and] my opinion has not changed no matter what. I took what was in the public hearing before us, our deliberations, our straw poll last time, my work, and looking at what language I wanted to vote myself this evening. Nothing has changed my mind, as nothing should have at that point. So I’m ready to vote tonight, but if the rest of the panel is not, that’s fine.”
Hoffman said that he did not expect that the letter from Boucher would sway his opinion either, but “what I don’t know, and what I want town counsel to give us their opinion on, is should someone be bold enough to send us something like this an hour before a hearing, which may or may not have been designed to sway our opinion, whether or not I can ignore it or not.”
Hoffman made a point of emphasizing that Boucher’s letter had been sent to him and Wrinn rather than to all P&Z commissioners, and that he had forwarded it to the other commissioners prior to the meeting.