Picking up where they left off after a surprise email from First Selectman Toni Boucher triggered a postponement at their last meeting, Wilton’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members voted unanimously during their May 11 meeting to approve the construction of an emergency access road to connect the ASML campus at 77 Danbury Rd. to the residential neighborhood on Arrowhead Rd.
The resolution that passed incorporates several changes and conditions hammered out by commissioners that are intended to alleviate the impact of road construction and, later, potential continuity-of-operations traffic along the dead-end street located at the north of the ASML campus. The changes approved by P&Z are:
- During access road construction, commercial vehicles will be allowed on Arrowhead Rd. only between 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and again from 4-6 p.m. to avoid conflicting with school bus traffic, and that ASML will “make every effort” to construct the emergency access road from the ASML campus and limit use of Arrowhead Rd. for construction traffic.
- P&Z will be allowed to review and approve ASML’s plan for a shuttle service to reduce traffic load in the event of extended continuity-of-operations activity requiring the use of Arrowhead Rd. to access the campus, to be submitted to P&Z and Wilton’s emergency services prior to the completion of the road’s construction.
- The number of ASML employee cars allowed to use Arrowhead Rd. will be limited to 50% of the available onsite parking spaces, i.e., 280 spaces.
- During an emergency period, tractor trailers — which the Planning and Zoning Department will interpret broadly to mean any large load-carrying vehicle — will be prohibited on weekends and limited to the same morning and afternoon hours as for construction vehicles.
Town Counsel: Boucher Email on ASML Tax Payments was “an Error,” but “Done Innocently”
The vote on ASML’s application to build the emergency access road had been expected to take place at P&Z’s previous meeting on Monday, Apr. 27. However, just as the discussion was about to begin, Hoffman announced that shortly before the meeting, he, Director of Planning and Land Use Management Michael Wrinn, and others received an email from Boucher containing information that necessitated postponing further action until the commissioners received guidance from town counsel.
Although Hoffman did not specify the contents of the email during the meeting, a copy of the email obtained by GOOD Morning Wilton contained only a screen grab of what appeared to be a PowerPoint slide from a presentation on the proposed Fiscal Year 2027 Board of Selectmen (BOS) budget for the Annual Town Meeting (ATM) that subsequently took place on May 5. The slide listed the top five taxpayers according to the 2025 Grand List.
The slide showed that ASML was by far the largest single taxpayer to the town in 2025. Using the adopted 25.0623 mill rate, in FY 2027 ASML will pay nearly $12.5 million in taxes on assessed property values of nearly $500 million.
Boucher told GMW that she sent the email “for information purposes.”
At the May 11 meeting, Town Counsel Ira Bloom told the commissioners that it was “an error” for Boucher to have sent the email while P&Z was deliberating ASML’s application for the emergency access road.
“The rules are pretty clear about information from the public after the public hearing is closed, and the rule is quite simple,” Bloom said. “There should be nothing submitted after the public hearing is closed from the public.”
“I believe that it was done innocently, but it remains an error,” Bloom added.
Although Boucher is an ex officio member of P&Z, she has no voting rights and, during deliberations, is considered a member of the public.
Bloom counseled the commissioners that in the future, should they receive comments from the public — whether in written, verbal or other form — to send a copy to Wrinn, refrain from forwarding it to other members, avoid reading or hearing it if possible, and to disregard it.
“What do you do about this email from the First Selectwoman? You need to ignore it. And ignore it completely. Basically, put it out of your mind,” Bloom instructed. “I know you had multiple public sessions on this application. It’s complicated. You spent a lot of hours, you have a lot of information. And basically, you have to put that particular email, which was a summary of the top taxpayers, aside, and it really cannot have any impact on your deliberations at all.”
Bloom recommended that each commissioner state on the record that the email would not have any impact on their deliberation or their vote, and that any member who disagreed should perhaps recuse themselves.
Hoffman declared that he would be able to decide on the ASML application “solely on the basis that we have heard within the boundaries of the hearings of this commission and information received in proper form and time to this commission” and invited the commissioners to state their agreement or disagreement with his statement. Each of the eight seated commissioners in turn stated their names and their agreement with Hoffman’s statement, and the deliberations resumed.
“What Happens on the 31st Day?”
ASML sought P&Z’s approval to build the access road through 39 Arrowhead Rd. to serve as an emergency outlet in the event of the closure of the main — and sole — road to the facility. As GMW has reported, Arrowhead Rd. residents strenuously urged P&Z to reject the proposal, arguing that the plan raises flooding concerns, conflicts with Wilton’s zoning framework, and amounted to illegal spot zoning — an argument that town counsel later rejected.
One of the major points of contention in the public hearings and commissioner deliberations was whether to restrict use of the road to emergency vehicle traffic in the immediate aftermath of a crisis, or to allow cars, shuttles, and trucks to use the road to provide continuity-of-operation activities over a longer period of time. The commissioners agreed that at least some accommodation should be made for the latter; the question they wrestled with was how much.
During deliberations on May 11, commissioner Trevor Huffard argued that the constraints on ASML to limit use of the access road were unclear in the draft resolution. Under the terms of the resolution, ASML is allowed to use the road for the duration of an emergency and for up to 30 days “to complete repairs to allow access to shift back to the main entrance.” It also requires ASML to come before P&Z within 10 days of the emergency event for “a determination regarding additional time limits” on the use of the road. Huffard argued that the connection between those two requirements was not sufficiently explicit.
“What happens on the 31st day?” Huffard asked.
“Within 10 days of that emergency, they’ve got to assess what that emergency entails … and what is the likelihood of getting it resolved within a certain time frame,” Wrinn explained. “You’re going to have them before you within 10 days of that emergency to tell you, ‘Here’s what happened, here’s what we expect, here’s how we plan to get it resolved, and here’s how long it’s going to take.’ So, after that 30 days, you have the option of saying, ‘Well, we’ve given you 30 days. Or … they are going to say, ‘Well, we may need 40 based on what happened.'”
“If they haven’t done that, I believe they have to stop using it, right, Michael?” P&Z Chair Ken Hoffman asked.
“Yeah, that’s what this condition is,” Wrinn confirmed. “These are not one or the other. They have to comply with all of these conditions simultaneously.”
Huffard asked what would happen if ASML came before P&Z saying that it would take a year to repair the Danbury Rd. entrance.
“Then it’s in your ballpark to give them an extension, but that’s up to you,” Wrinn responded.
Vote to Approve is Unanimous
After deliberating for nearly an hour, Hoffman called for a vote, noting that town counsel had concluded the proposal was not an example of spot zoning and stating that he believed the ASML facility needed an emergency driveway to supplement its main entrance. He also said that he couldn’t weigh in on the claim by Arrowhead Rd. residents that ASML had not negotiated with them in good faith because no documentation had been submitted to the commissioners regarding that issue.
All eight seated commissioners voted in favor of the zone changes and site modifications that will allow ASML to begin construction. P&Z Secretary Michelle Saglimbene was not in attendance due to an emergency situation at her work.
“I think that we have worked very diligently to try and both — for the definition of an emergency and in terms of access — to be forward thinking … about protecting the residents of Arrowhead Road,” Hoffman said just prior to the vote. “The conditions we have in [the revised resolution], I believe, are the best effort of this commission to do so.”