To the Editor:
I have a vested interest as to what is constructed in Wilton at 64 Danbury Rd. I live behind the white monster health care building and will soon look directly onto a new development at number 64. There is no landscape screening large or tall enough to be effective; not nice, not fair.
I’m also looking at a broader view of future housing builds along south Wilton’s Rte.7. My neighbors and I are concerned about upticks in traffic, more noise, lighting, auto pollution, additional traffic lights & new lanes.
When Mr. [Rick] Tomasetti ran for his Planning and Zoning Commission position, he was quoted to say, “Our proactive, community-centric strategies involve holistic assessments, ensuring our town’s essence remains untouched.”
That essence is Wilton’s ‘rural character‘. [The development at] 141 Danbury Rd. is the antithesis of rural character. It is noticeably inappropriate and will hopefully not be the prototype of things to come to our town.
Anyone who approved 141 Danbury Rd.’s Bronx-style design, size and density, along with its inherent and unresolved problems (like traffic study) should have been aware that a traffic nightmare might ensue at the juncture of Rtes. 7 and 33 and beyond. Instead, while attending [a recent] P&Z zoom meeting, most of the commissioners stated that they had no traffic concerns. So… why [did] they debate driveways and curb cuts (germane to traffic and safety), after approvals and its construction?
Would someone take a look at the frontage of the AIG/ASML campus, on the east side of Danbury Rd.? Its undulating berms and large evergreens (not ‘see through’ deciduous trees) screen everything that needs screening.
Why does it seem so foreign to design and produce beautiful structures that befit rather than insult Wilton? Townspeople would embrace such a notion, which would preclude our angst and pushback. (And how about all that money that Wilton might save!)
A while ago, this quote came to my attention. It’s from P&Z Commissioner [Chris] Pagliaro about another application. “The public doesn’t understand what is proposed under these changes. They are not planners. They read things. They don’t understand it.”
“It is demeaning and untrue to say that about Wilton residents. We do read and we understand what lays ahead and we are concerned.
There was a day when P&Z fought hard for us! Now we seem to fight each other. How did that change and how do we fix it?
With respect and concern for our town,
Sari Weatherwax
Sari Weatherwax hit the nail on the head. It’s natural that developers want to build flat-roof, generic boxes to maximize returns, but it’s up to P&Z to push back, tell them to get architects with talent, and design something in keeping with the town and visually attractive, even if smaller and less profitable. As for the traffic studies, and those minimizing the projected number of children entering schools, the lack of skepticism is astounding.
YES!! Yes!! The residents of this town need to band together and SAVE WILTON!! We are a historical New England Village that would like to stay that way!!! We don’t need massive apartment buildings. We don’t have the traffic pattern, the layout, the infrastructure to handle what is planned. Residents moved here for the small charm. You want a city with night life try living in norwalk or Stamford. You want a safe, quiet, family oriented village (for now ) you pick Wilton.
Why? Why is P&Z just allowed to do whatever they want without input from the residence? How come they can keep meeting on zoom? Why doesn’t the residents opinion make any impact? Why is P&Z not holding a town hearing to ask residents to vote on these massive life changing decisions? WHY?? Why is P&Z not working towards what is best for the residents vs what is best for them and what they will gain financially?
How can the residents of Wilton stop P&Z from destroying our rural small village??
While I certainly agree with the sentiments expressed, the pragmatic side of me also understands that designing, building and maintaining New England-style buildings–that are also beautiful–is very difficult to do without also making them really costly….which in-turn makes the spaces harder to rent, and harder still for desirable business, retail and residential tenants to have a successful existence in Wilton.
Therefore, for me, if its not New England-y in its design, but not ugly or cheap-looking either, really, that about the best any town can realistically hope for.
With respect to what’s new/planned, its not all bad. Not by a long shot: 15 Old Danbury is handsome (“rustic industrial”), 200 Danbury Road is “architecturally correct” (but pricey, and not attracting the kinds of retail business that we want), White Fences at 523 Danbury Road is perfectly lovely, the Fuller Development looks high end, as does 131 Danbury. 3 Hubbard Road, 300 Danbury and 254 Danbury were all going to be exactly what we say we want, but they gave up, due to P&Z dithering and micromanaging their plans. As for River Road, its a project involving renovation & repurposing of an existing building which means that if we want anything done at all with the current monstrosity, Kimco has to work with what’s there.
I think we also need to consider something else: the young and likely childless professionals that will be moving into these places. These people will add not only some vitality to Wilton Center, but they are also the kinds of spenders that we need to support the in-town retail and dining experiences that we want (and they will fill the town treasury with badly needed tax revenue).