Bob Nerney is Wilton’s town planner. His main responsibilities include working with the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals–both voluntary citizen boards–to administer the development and land use issues for the town and its residents. According to the town’s website, his department reviews “residential and non-residential subdivision applications, [analyzes] commercial and industrial development proposals and provides guidance with regard to existing and future land use policies.”
In addition, Nerney’s department reviews zoning permit applications, investigates and enforces zoning violations, administrates floodplain regulations and coordinates and reviews development proposals with local and state agencies. That includes long-range planning initiatives, including the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development, which is meant to outline objectives, goals and strategies for conserving land, promoting balanced and responsible growth and ensuring an adequate level of community services and facilities.
GOOD Morning Wilton sat down with Nerney to talk about several issues and projects that have come up in town that he’s been involved with over the last year. One thing he did say: Planning and Zoning might be amenable to looking at whether current ordinances regulating signs might be made more lenient to help local businesses.
Signage–Permanent and Temporary
GOOD Morning Wilton spoke with Nerney before Monday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting, where Wilton business owner Megan Abrahamsen brought her appeal about the town’s signage ordinances. She asked for the selectmen’s help in getting the Planning and Zoning commission to consider making changes to town ordinances that she said were so restrictive that they threatened her ability to keep her business open.
However, much of what she told them already had been printed in a letter to the editor that Abrahamsen had written and was published in GMW and in other local media last week. Many of Abrahamsen’s complaints dealt with temporary signage–the kind of sandwich boards businesses like hers use to attract customers by advertising sales, products, etc. and sometimes even just the sheer fact that a business exists. Abrahamsen told the selectmen that, “When the sign is in place, sales for my small business are double to triple what they are when the sign is removed.”
She and other business owners who rent their spaces say they don’t have the same ability to appeal to Planning and Zoning as building owners do.
According to Nerney, the current ordinances that outline how frequently stores can have temporary signs were changed a couple of years ago to make it easier for businesses.
“They were changed to make them more lenient, both for profit and non-profit organizations. That was done just as Rte. 7 was finished up. Those were difficult times. There were issues with construction and visibility. The regulations were changed in the past. Should they be changed again? My guess is that the commission might be amenable to listening to what they have to say” Nerney said.
He did say that it’s not a clear cut issue.
“We get just as many calls complaining about signs as we do people advocating them. I understand that there are businesses today, especially in this economic climate which still is not good, that are hanging on. I’m sensitive to that. We’ve had business tenants in, I remember one lady, she was in tears, ‘You don’t understand, Mr. Nerney, I’m two weeks from going out of business.’ On the flip side, I can remember going back years ago working in Nashua, NH where somebody was killed pulling out of a commercial site where one of the factors was supposedly a temporary sign blocking the sight line. There’s issues of safety, there’s issues of esthetics. I think the town has tried to come up with a policy that will allow for these, but not on a perpetual basis. What happens is you start driving the thoroughfares and it starts to look like the drive to Hampton Beach, NH.”
Nerney did say, however, that he’s be open to alternative ideas and opening a discussion with business owners, and that the Commission likely would be too.
“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with talking and sharing ideas. The one thing with our Planning & Zoning Commission is that they’re elected residents of the community. I think they’re very much open to listening to people, listening to their ideas. I think the business community–although they’re not the only component of the town, they’re obviously important. They’re the ones that provide the jobs, and the goods and services that we all are looking for. It’s an integral part of any community. I think it usually starts with a letter to the chairman–I am so-and-so, and I along with the below people, would like to have a meaningful conversation as to what might be done to revamp the regulations to come up with a more equitable policy that still addresses the basic safety and esthetic issues that all towns look at–it’s not just Wilton.”
Middlebrook Turf Field
Last year, a handful of youth sports organizations brought forward their plan to renovate the Middlebrook School field. The group, commonly known as “Time to Turf,” has proposed gifting the renovation to the town and replacing the natural grass field with a turf field.
After facing resistance from neighbors last fall over the proposed lighting component of the plan, as well as environmental concerns, and losing on their separate efforts to change zoning regulations to allow for 80-ft. lights, the group has scaled back its ideas for lighting for the time being. They will be focusing on getting their proposal past the environmental officials on the Inlands Wetlands Commission first.
To do so, the sports groups needed the sign-off from the Board of Selectmen because the field sits on town-owned land. Now that the Board of Selectmen have given their approval, “Time to Turf” has the go-ahead to file an application with the Inland Wetlands Commission.
“There’s the issue of drainage discharge from altering the field from natural to synthetic turf,” Nerney explained. “I’ve been told lighting is not part of that application.”
While the application with the Inland Wetlands Commission is a separate issue, Nerney explained the kind of “holding pattern” the group is in with regard to the lights. Right now town zoning allows for 30-foot lights, which the applicants say is insufficient to light the field properly. The existing 30-foot lights are older, but could stay if there were no other lighting options available or permitted. He says the light issue is still up in the air.
“The [current 30-foot lights] don’t incorporate the features that current lighting [design] has. It’s a feature that has been in place and they could continue to enjoy the use of those lights. There is one outstanding issue on the lighting. Going way back at the outset, the applicant had approached the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to get a variance to increase the height. That variance was granted by the Zoning Board of Appeals. It was appealed and the trial court found that there wasn’t enough information in the record to substantiate the ZBA’s finding. It wasn’t really a denial or an affirmation of the ZBA, it was a remand back to make findings. The ZBA supplemented the record with additional findings of fact that they thought were relevant to support the case. That became the basis for another court case, another challenge. We have not seen word back as to whether or not those variances would stand,” Nerney said, adding, “I don’t know where the judge is going to come down.”
That echoed what the attorney for the sports groups, J. Casey Healy, told the Board of Selectmen on Monday night, Nov. 17. He explained that, “The [Superior] Court heard that appeal in October, and will issue a decision within 120 days. In the event that they overturn the grant of the variance, the associations are prepared to go forward without the 70-foot lights,” Healy said.
Progress on the Train-Station-to-Town-Center Walkway
Nerney is optimistic about one project he’s worked very hard on: the pedestrian walkway bridge, crossing the Norwalk River and connecting the Wilton Train Station with the Town Center.
“We have a desired goal: Eighteen months.”
He’s concerned that it will take longer-than-desired to get the approvals at the state level, given the bureaucratic steps it has to go through.
“We have a grant for $500,000 [to build the bridge]. We’re still waiting to hear back–this was approved as a STEAP grant through the Office of Policy and Management from the State. They have farmed it out to CT DOT. It has to be signed off by DOT–that’s happened. It has to be sent to the Attorney General’s office–that’s happened. Now it’s in the office of the Comptroller–we’re waiting on sign-of. Once that happens, we can start.”
The town doesn’t want to spend any money until everything is approved, to insure they’ll be reimbursed. However, they did piggyback on work that Yankee Gas was doing on the trail by Portofino’s Restaurant to widen the trail in anticipation that the walkway grant will meet all final approvals.
“There’s now a sort of decorative retaining wall that’s been put up. That was an opportunity to prep it now, rather than have to go back. It would be far, far more costly working around a high-pressured gas main [later].”
RFPs are ready to go, and the town will have to go through a bidding process…but is just waiting until those approvals happen in Hartford.
“I’ve been doing as much as I can to try to stay ahead of the curve.”
As for what the bridge will look like, Nerney envisions something more than just structural. “I want this to be more than just a bridge. I see it as a gateway into the downtown. I would like to see benches and lighting. I want it to be used and an inviting place to bring people into the downtown and points south.”
Top of mind for him is the safety–the bridge offers a safer alternative for pedestrians between the station (including Trackside and Wilton Commons) and the town. The only option currently is for pedestrians to cross the Norwalk River by walking up to the busy Ridgefield Rd. bridge, and sometimes crossing the four lanes of traffic there.