Today’s coverage includes a three-part GOOD Morning Wilton series stemming from recent Wilton Capital Planning Committee discussions. The stories examine questions about the committee’s scope, whether historic value is being adequately reflected in its capital planning framework, and how those issues intersect with the future of a highly visible town-owned historic property — the Yellow House at Ambler Farm. PLUS, we have a bonus feature about potential interest by a ‘mystery’ party interested in buying the Gilbert & Bennett property.
Wilton’s Capital Planning Committee (WCPC) hasn’t always had the clearest mission and defined process — an issue that’s been raised not only by residents but also even by some of its own members. Now, the chair of the committee that was formed to focus on capital bonding projects has broached the idea of expanding its scope.
At the committee’s meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 7, Chair Jeff Rutishauser said concerns raised in recent emails and public comments highlighted lingering uncertainty about what the WCPC is — and is not — tasked to do. He said he plans to place the issue on the committee’s next agenda and draft a letter to the Board of Selectmen asking if the committee’s scope and responsibilities should be formally expanded.
“Another comment that came up in the past couple days on some emails that we got from individuals [involves] the issue of scope — what’s in scope, what’s not in scope, what was our original scope, which things we added,” Rutishauser said at the beginning of the meeting.
According to the Town’s website, the WCPC is tasked with identifying short-, medium- and long-term bonded capital priorities, and recommending “a 2027 Bonded Capital Improvement Plan, along with a recommendation on a five-year and a 15-year plan.”
But in practice, the committee has strayed from that mission, spending months discussing the possible sale of town-owned properties and weighing projects that extend beyond traditional building-related capital needs.
Rutishauser told GOOD Morning Wilton that three emails he received and read aloud during public comment at the end of the meeting — from Second Selectman Ross Tartell, former Wilton Historical Society co-director Allison Sanders, and Historic District and Historic Properties Commission Chair Lori Fusco — prompted him to suggest formally considering an expanded scope.
Tartell Wants Wider Funding Consideration
Last May, after the WCPC had struggled in its first year of work, First Selectman Toni Boucher presented the Board of Selectmen with a revised mission statement and goals for the committee
Though he and his fellow BOS members had wholeheartedly supported the reworked mission at the time, Tartell wrote an email to the WCPC last week — noting he was doing so “as a private citizen,” not on behalf of the BOS. His message questioned whether the committee’s current framework should include funding sources other than just bonding.
“The criteria as listed seems to assume that all funding comes from town bonding but there are other sources such as grants, matching funds, rentals, etc., that reduce the funding burden on the town,” he wrote. “I would hope that would be factored in.”
At the same time, Tartell argued that, based on the original mission of the committee, its focus should remain limited to only municipal buildings, including school and town facilities.
“It seems to me that would exclude from the purview of this committee items like dump trucks, culverts and bridges,” he wrote — items and projects which have been submitted for consideration in the WCPC’s discussions by Wilton’s Department of Public Works Director Frank Smeriglio, largely because they have historically been bonded and fall under his department’s oversight.
Calls for Preservation of Historic Structure Criteria
In her email, Sanders referred to “the omission of a significant criteria” being considered by the WCPC in its decision making — historic value. She cited Wilton’s 2019 Plan of Conservation and Development, which prioritizes both the economic and aesthetic value of historic buildings. She described their appeal to both residents and new businesses, and noted the town’s responsibility, based on the POCD, to continue proper upkeep and stewardship of such buildings.
“Without this perspective, the worth of the antique buildings owned by the town cannot be properly measured for this project,” she said. “Adding historic preservation criteria provides a way to acknowledge the value of the Yellow House and G&B [the Gilbert & Bennett School) and other town-owned historic buildings, as they are clearly different from most municipal buildings.”
“These round pegs do not fit into square boxes of the grid,” Sanders said. “Another category is needed.”
Fusco’s email, which Rutishauser read aloud, echoed similar concerns, and she later made additional remarks via Zoom during public comment.
Several residents also spoke in support of preserving the Gilbert & Bennett School, including Wilton resident Penelope Koechl, who expressed unease about an off-hand comment Boucher made during the meeting that there was “an interested party” before saying, “I can’t say it publicly.”
“I was a little concerned when I heard our first selectwoman say we may have an interested party,” Koechl said. “I’m not quite sure what that means [but] I feel as if there are a lot of people who care about that building who would like to see something possibly socially responsible done with it, community-oriented.”
“I hope that no one will take it upon themselves to hastily make a decision about the fate of that building, but I think for now it should be properly remediated and maintained,” Koechl added.
Unclear on its Role from the Start
The WCPC was originally formed over two years ago as the Town and School Needs Assessment Priorities Committee (TSNAP), was created in reaction to a mammoth list of renovations needed at the schools and various town buildings estimated at roughly $150 million.
In its early stages, disagreements over purpose and methodology left some committee members confused and frustrated. Among the disagreements, elected officials were sometimes at odds with town employees, whose focus was more on the practicality of their jobs, while some boards members advocated for more ideal long-term planning.
Projects for the committee to consider have come from multiple sources including the Board of Education, Public Works, Parks and Recreation and Town Hall, and the list grew.
“The original scope of two-and-a-half years ago was just on improvements of existing vertical property, schools and municipal … Since then, the scope has changed and/or been modified to include things like Ambler Farm, firetrucks, roads, building culverts and the like, that weren’t in the original fix-up and repair reports,” Rutishauser said.
More recently, on May 20, 2025, Boucher presented the BOS with a new mission statement and set of goals for the reformed WCPC, including the evaluation of town-owned assets, financial framework development, and stakeholder engagement. That led to the WCPC spending several meetings last fall talking in depth about possibly selling off some town-owned properties, including Gilbert & Bennett.
During a November meeting, WCPC member Rich Santosky challenged Rutishauser about it.
“Looking at our mission … I’m just wondering how this falls under our guidance as a formed committee to discuss capital needs … We seem to be spending a lot of time discussing whether we should own properties or not that we own.”
“The charge was at two levels,” Rutishauser said, noting that along with capital planning, they were also now supposed to look at the town’s building inventory.
“That’s not on the town website,” Santosky said. “I’m just looking at what the charge is on the town website.”
“If it’s not explicit, we can make it explicit,” Rutishauser told him, “but it was done as a parallel effort … We’ve owned these orphans for years and haven’t done anything with them … It’s not to displace what we’re doing, it was additive to what we’re going to do.”
Based on comments she made at the WCPC meeting last week, Boucher seems onboard with the idea of expanding the committee’s scope — perhaps even beyond what’s been thought about already. She indicated the WCPC is currently the Town’s only building-related committee that’s active, and, therefore, would be the entity to examine any additional issues that arise.
“It is an ongoing committee and we have brought up the subject of all the other town properties we have,” she said. “That always comes up as a matter of discussion and having this being the only building committee, it might be something the Board of Selectmen might want to include going forward.”
Narrowing Down the List of Projects to Recommend
While it’s composed of a veritable Who’s Who of Wilton’s political leadership, there remains confusion about exactly what — and how — the WCPC is supposed to synthesize information and deliver a final list of recommended capital projects for bonding — something it must do in the next few weeks.
Historically, the BOS has relied on an ever-evolving five-year plan and guidance from Town staff when making bonding decisions. The school superintendent made recommendations on Board of Education projects based on similar criteria.
For the WCPC’s current FY 2027 planning, Smeriglio has largely led the way the past few months, overseeing the presentation of different projects in staggered succession.
While his intention appears to ultimately be bringing forward a thorough list of all bonding-related projects, questions of financing — both past and future — have left gaps in the information available to the committee, some of has been attributed to the chaotic year that has plagued the town’s Finance Department.
Looking Ahead
Rutishauser said the coming weeks represent an opportunity to “recalibrate” before the committee finalizes its recommendations.
“This is a good time to recalibrate exactly what we’re going be working on in the final weeks of the report,” Rutishauser told Boucher at the meeting.
“You can give us an amended charter … I want to make sure we’re doing what we’re asked to do, nothing more, nothing less,” he said.
Boucher appeared to be onboard with Rutishauser’s suggestions to expand the scope.
“With time, if it’s grown and [you] decide the mission should be more, we can certainly readdress it at the Board of Selectmen to see if we want to change that scope,” Boucher said.