Parks and Recreation Commission Chair Alix Korpan shared an earful at last week’s (Wednesday, Oct. 8) meeting about lights on playing fields, but Steve Pierce, director of the Parks and Recreation Department, calmly explained that their hands were currently tied to get things lit.
At issue is town permission to put lights that reach around 70-feet high on Guy Whitten Field, located at the Wilton High School athletic complex on Kristine Lilly Way.
Pierce said that, when he went before the Zoning Board of Appeals recently to request a variance for the project on the grounds of hardship, given that the town has a 30-foot maximum limit on light height, he learned that ZBA would not be granting one.
“When I got there, it was indicated to me that the rules had changed as far as hardship is concerned,” Pierce said, “and even though they felt this is a wonderful project, and we made good sense for safety based on lighting (and) everything else, that it didn’t meet the criteria, the new criteria, for a hardship, so they didn’t feel they could allow a variance.”
Instead, Pierce has put in a request to the Planning and Zoning Commission that it consider a text amendment in order to expand the perimeters for light height.
“We are in the process of applying for a change in text,” Pierce said, noting that while they’re waiting to see what the response will be, he’s scrambling to keep the project moving by changing the order of some of the work at the field in order to not waste time.
Korpan, however, was not happy hearing that the project could be further delayed, once again impacting lacrosse and football on the field, which was not usable in the spring.
“If we don’t have it for like another season, like if this gets screwed up again and it somehow continues to get stalled and they can’t use it for lacrosse,” she said, leaving the thought incomplete.
“We already do not have enough fields in this town,” Korpan said, “and like, everyone, people need to stop dragging their feet.”
“I know it’s not you, but there’s a level of frustration,” she told Pierce, noting that as a parent involved with lacrosse and football she hears a lot of complaints.
“We hear it constantly,” she said. “It is dangerous for these kids — the practice conditions for these kids under these horrible portable lights on like the Cider Mill fields … It’s just not safe.”
Pierce responded calmly, “I’m not disagreeing.”
“And we can’t move that field again for lacrosse,” Korpan continued. “Lacrosse season is going to be another messy situation if we can’t get this done.”
“If this doesn’t go through in the next few weeks, there’s going to be some really unhappy people,” she said, “and Election Day is coming, so everyone needs to know that.”
Pierce said that in the recent past he has received the variance from the ZBA on the height of field lights, including for the Wilton High School baseball and softball fields, which rose above 70 feet.
The ZBA made the suggestion they check with P&Z for a text change, with town counsel telling Pierce that a similar situation had recently happened in Westport and they had resolved it through a text amendment.
“It’s a Planning and Zoning rule,” Pierce said, “and as I said before, when we went for the other ones, the other lights that were approved, the ZBA … could entertain it and make those changes.”
“But the rule is 30 feet for town lighting and that’s across the board,” he said.
Pierce said he would be meeting with the town counsel next week to “put the verbiage together” for the request of the P&Z.
“They can help us achieve what we’re trying to do here without impeding any other business or neighbors and that sort of thing, so you don’t see light towers all over the town,” he said.
On June 3, the Board of Selectmen voted to transfer $250,000 in ARPA funds from the proposed playground project at Schenck’s Island, to the Guy Whitten Field improvement work, which is estimated to cost around $700,000.
Pierce and the commission were not clear on what the deadline was for using the ARPA funds that were allocated to the Guy Whitten project, but according to one commissioner they had through the end of 2026 to complete the project in order to not lose the funds.
“I have a call in to our design team to talk about shuffling this whole project so we can move forward quicker as far as getting the field irrigation in and putting the conduit in prior to the lights going in,” Pierce said, with a hope that they still might be able to finish the entire project before the end of the year.
A glaring difference between other town commissions/boards and Planning & Zoning is that PZC must follow state procedural laws on such actions as a “text amendment”. First, an “applicant” must file a formal application to PZC (it can be PZC filing such amendment for their open review); then there is a statutory legal notification period; and then a public hearing must be held – all before deliberation and vote on a formal resolution.
Chris Pagliaro, a member of the P&Z Commission, comments that “A glaring difference between other town commissions/boards and Planning & Zoning is that PZC must follow state procedural laws on such actions as a “text amendment”….” Is Mr. Pagliari suggesting that other boards are free to allow alterations or variances from the text of zoning regulations without following the prescriptions of state procedural and substantive law? If so, he is seriously misinformed. According to a CT Supreme Court case that has been the controlling law since 2017, a Zoning Board of Appeals cannot grant a variance from strict application of a zoning regulation unless it finds that certain conditions have been established, including a “hardship” that is unique to the property (not the applicant) in question, such as the shape or other characteristics of the piece of land. Personal hardships, such as economic hardships or the need for better lighting for athletes, have not been considered qualifying “hardships” since 2017! If the ZBA found that the Town’s application for a variance failed to meet the established legal standard required for granting a variance, then it had no choice but to deny the application. The Town must have known that, or at least should have known that. (The Zoning Board of Appeals, with the assistance of Town Counsel, has published guidelines on its website intended to help applicants understand when a variance can be granted and when it cannot, as a matter of State law. Decisions that do not comply with the law are subject to appeal to and reversal by the Superior Court, at great expense to the Town.) Clearly, there has been a big “Snag” in the plans for installing new lighting at the Guy Whitten Fields, one that may be felt most by our young athletes. This should not happen. But let’s be honest, the snag occurred on June 3, 2025, when the Board of Selectmen voted to approve the installation of 70’ athletic field lighting polesth properly advising Parks and Recs that they would need to apply to the P&Z Commission for a zoning amendment that permits 70’ light poles for Town athletic fields. If the Board of Selectmen simply did not know that an amendment would be required, they should they have thought to check! That is their job, and they have Town Counsel to advise them. I’m not sure how to fix this problem, but surely the fault should not be laid with the Zoning Board of Appeals, which may have been the only board doing its job.
Patti – I agree with you 100% about land use boards and perhaps some others that I am not aware of. I meant it from the perspective of “this is not going to be a PZC process that can be accomplished in a matter of next few weeks” (as mentioned in the article), and was generally referring to a BOE or perhaps some other boards/commissions that don’t have to follow court restrictive procedure. Again, the point being that any journey through Planning & Zoning would have to follow such mandates and should not be relied on as a quick action.
What I’ve observed in the last few years is the uptick in the lack of accountability and balanced oversight in Wilton’s town government and commissions. This is unfortunately the latest example.
Wherever one stands on this lighting issue, we owe it to ourselves to be informed. Following is a link to Wilton’s Planning & Zoning Regulations. Scroll to section 29.9.E – 2, “OUTDOOR LIGHTING”. https://www.wiltonct.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif10026/f/uploads/complete.pdf
As another commenter rightly observed, there appears to be a lack of coordination and consultation between the BOS and other Commissions and Boards. While I don’t expect our town’s public servants to know every statute and regulation, I DO expect them to be humble enough to say, “I’m not sure; let me verify and get back to you.”
The Parks & Recreation Department have worked hard to identify a solution to a safety concern. Ultimately our young people who will benefit from greater accessibility to the athletic fields will bear the brunt of (some) town Leaders’ shortcomings. And that’s on all of us grown-ups who put the Leaders there.