In its final meeting of the 2024 calendar year, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted to amend the zoning overlay for Wilton Center to require that all multifamily projects set aside 10% of units as affordable housing. The vote closes a loophole used this year by Kimco to secure approval to build 168 units in Wilton Center with just three units of affordable housing. P&Z’s Greater Wilton Center Master Plan subcommittee, which drafted the new overlay, had intended to include the requirement from the outset but didn’t include it in the final version.

The change comes too late to make a difference in the Kimco redevelopment, by far the largest development possible anywhere in the Wilton Center zone. However, it will hold any future developments in the neighborhood that have not yet been submitted to the intended 10% requirement.

In the discussion before Monday evening’s public hearing, Commissioner Mark Ahasic asked Town Planner Michael Wrinn for information on what level of affordability other nearby towns require. Wrinn said answering that would be “difficult because all of the towns are a little bit different.” He declined to offer any examples.

In October 2022, as Ridgefield was debating the details of its own affordable housing requirement, Ridgefield Planning and Zoning Commission Chair Robert Hendrick provided the following information to his fellow commissioners on affordability targets in use by nearby communities:

  • Darien requires 14% affordability for all projects with more than four dwelling units.
  • New Canaan requires 15% affordability in its Multifamily, Apartment, and Business zones, and also requires that any construction in town make a contribution ($10 for every $1,000 in construction value) to an affordable housing trust controlled by its P&Z, which the town uses to create its own affordable housing developments.
  • Redding, Greenwich, and Westport were noted at the time as not having a required affordable housing minimum.

Ridgefield went on to pass a 15% affordability requirement in 2023, which Wrinn presented to the commission at the time after Wilton was sent a mandatory referral to comment on the proposal.

As reported by GOOD Morning Wilton yesterday, the Western Connecticut Council of Governments (WestCOG) responded to Wilton’s referral regarding the new proposed regulations in a brief, 100-word memo stating that, based on its study of Wilton and similar communities, the requirement for new development should be 12-16% affordable, not 10%.

In one of just two public comments submitted to the commission in writing, architect Barbara Geddis challenged WestCOG’s categorization of Wilton in its analysis and criticized “the press” for reporting on WestCOG’s memo rather than the report itself.

“The issue is the full Westcog consultant report (which I read today and underlined!) characterizes Wilton as an ‘urban fringe’ community,” she wrote. “It is not now and was never ‘urban fringe.’ I would say ‘suburban’ is more accurate. Many of our citizens as expressed in many public comments still view us as ‘rural.'”

However, a reading of the full WestCOG report shows that it does not, in fact, categorize Wilton as a whole as urban fringe. The town-by-town map presented at the outset of the report (shown below; WestCOG does not provide higher resolution images) depicts just Wilton Center and the Danbury Rd./Route 7 corridor as urban fringe. The rest of the town is divided fairly evenly between the suburban and rural categories.

On pages 6 and 92, the report defines “Urban Fringe” areas (where 12-16% affordability would be appropriate) as areas with moderate density, public water and sewer, and public transit. The report offers the following examples of towns that include an urban fringe zone: those along the New Canaan branch line, some areas of Danbury, and nodes in Ridgefield, Newtown, and New Milford.

To meet Geddis’ categorization of suburban (where 10% affordability would have been WestCOG’s recommendation), Wilton Center itself would have to meet the following description: “low-moderate density, well and/or septic, largely single-family home neighborhoods, no public transit.”

Wilton Center is served by water and sewer, has only a handful of single-family homes, and is within walking distance to the Wilton MetroNorth Station and served by public buses. Regarding density, the Wilton Center zoning overlay allows for developments up to five stories tall. The first project to use the overlay is the Kimco redevelopment, which will have a density of 168 units on a 12-acre site.

In addition to her written comments, Geddis was the only member of the public to testify in person during the commission’s public hearing Monday evening. She expressed support for the 10% requirement, which she said in her written comments was left out of the zoning overlay “inadvertently.” Geddis was the only member of the master plan subcommittee who was not concurrently serving on a Wilton land use board. She remained closely engaged throughout the Kimco application process.

With no other public comments, the commission voted to close the public hearing and proceed to deliberate and vote. The amendment passed unanimously, though Commissioners Ahasic, Eric Fanwick, Ken Hoffman, and Jill Warren have expressed interest in revisiting the issue of requiring a higher level of affordability in the future.

Checking in on Other Business

During Monday’s meeting, the commission also voted to approve the Wilton Volunteer Ambulance Corps’ special permit for a new headquarters at 232 Danbury Rd. The resolution included a condition that requires WVAC to “use reasonable efforts in working together with the Wilton Historical Society to allow a relocation of the remaining historical artifacts of the existing building off the property.”

The clause is a reference to the remnants of the historic home of John C. Walley. Walley was a Wilton resident who was enslaved and later won his freedom. He purchased the home at 232 Danbury Rd. in 1838 and lived there with his family for 10 years. WVAC and WHS began working together earlier this fall on plans to hopefully relocate surviving elements of the structure for preservation reasons. Both groups operate as small non-profit organizations and will need to complete significant fundraising campaigns before either the relocation of the structure or the construction of WVAC’s headquarters could begin.

The commission also voted on its officers for the 2025 year, reinstating in their current roles Rick Tomasetti as chair, Melissa-Jean Rotini as vice chair and Fanwick as secretary.

Finally, P&Z opted to go back to Town Counsel with further questions regarding the Lake Club, whose application to construct new pickleball courts has opened a Pandora’s Box of issues for the institution. As neighbors of the Lake Club — many of them club members — came forward to challenge the club’s plans, the commission learned that the club may already be in violation of its existing special permit due to the number of members admitted in recent years. GMW will report on these developments ahead of the next discussion at P&Z.

The next meeting of the Wilton Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.