“What Voice Do We Have?” — Hist. District Commissioners Grapple with How to Influence Town’s Plans for Gilbert & Bennett Bldg. and Other Historic Properties

Wilton’s Historic District and Historic Properties Commission (HDHP) met Tuesday evening (Oct. 8) and discussed fundamental questions about how the commission can more effectively impact critical decisions by Town leaders pertaining to historic properties.

HDHP Chair Lori Fusco focused the discussion on three significant properties that have recently been at the forefront of the Town’s attention:

• 49 New St.: the historic Gilbert & Bennett School building, which was deemed unsafe by the Health Department on Aug. 29, forcing tenants of the G&B Cultural Center to vacate the property
  
• 232 Danbury Rd.: a property owned in the 1800s by John C. Walley, a former enslaved man; more recently acquired by the Wilton Volunteer Ambulance Corps (WVAC) with plans for a new headquarters there
  
• 238 Danbury Rd.: Town Hall, which needs numerous repairs but is also being studied for expansion as part of a larger overhaul of Town Hall Campus facilities

“What Voice Do We Have?”

Fusco took the opportunity to reiterate HDHP’s role in administering Wilton’s Historic Districts and designated Historic Properties, as established in the Town Charter: “…promoting the educational, cultural, economic and general welfare of the public through the preservation and protection of the distinctive characteristics of buildings, structures, places, surrounding sites, objects, neighborhoods and their environments associated with the history of or indicative of a period or style of architecture…”

The commission has two critical tools. It oversees a design review process in Wilton’s historic districts and issues “certificates of appropriateness” for any building renovation plans.  The commission also reviews demolition applications — whether or not they are in a historic district — and has the authority, in some cases, to delay demolitions for 90 days in order to provide salvaging opportunities or other alternatives. (Note: HDHP is actively seeking changes to the demolition ordinance, including stays up to 180 days.)

Typically, those tools only come into play after plans for a historic property have been made. Fusco said that seeing the plans unfold for WVAC’s property has given her pause.

“My takeaway would be, it’s given me time to reflect about this entire process [and] think about what can be done better,” she said.

“The challenging part is figuring out at what point can we appropriately have an impact,” Fusco continued. “We want to be ahead of the game, but where is it appropriate to insert our opinion?”

HDHP had hoped to offer an opinion on WVAC’s plans, which began at Wilton’s Zoning Board of Appeals to seek multiple variances, and have not yet gone to the Planning and Zoning Commission. HDHP would normally send an advisory opinion to P&Z when an application is first filed there.

“We want to be able to preserve these homes that are significant, but we are asked to this party way too late in the process,” Fusco lamented. “At that point, the only thing we have is that demo delay ordinance. I wish the process was a little bit more inclusive, from the beginning.”

“The bottom line [is] we have to work in collaboration with other departments that really are the ones that have the authority to do something,” she said. “We can just make the suggestions… we can let them know what our thoughts are from a historical perspective, why it is that we feel that these things are culturally or architecturally significant.”

Fusco is challenging HDHP commissioners to look for ways to engage in the process earlier.

“What can we do to try to find a way that we can be more collaborative, so it doesn’t get to us [after] people have already gone down the road of making plans and getting all their approvals in place,” she said. “I feel it probably would be better suited at the very beginning.”

While eager for HDHP to make more of an impact, Fusco also worries about “overstepping.”

“We need to be careful [about] doing what we’re charged to do, without overstepping into something or somewhere where it’s not appropriate. I just know that the chronology of everything that’s happened so far [232 Danbury Rd.] has kind of left me questioning what can we do,” she said.

“I’m just airing my own frustration as your chair, trying to figure out what it is that we can and can’t do, what tools we have. What can we do to make this better? What voice do we have?” Fusco asked.

She noted that the Town is just beginning to think about plans for Town Hall, and hoped HDHP could weigh in early enough to have an impact.

“This is in the beginning stages, where they’re having [very preliminary] discussions about how to revamp that area. [I think] inserting our opinions early on would be beneficial… to share our thoughts about the building and just reiterate what it is that we like to see,” Fusco said.

Gilbert & Bennett

The commission spent more time discussing the beleaguered G&B building, which was deemed unsafe to occupy due to the poor condition of the building.

“It’s a building that isn’t being taken care of,” Fusco said, noting that she had toured the building with other Town officials earlier this year.

Fusco reminded the commissioners of the POCD‘s clearly stated goal to “maintain Town-owned historic structures in a state of good repair.”

“It didn’t look to me as a building that was well maintained,” she said. “This didn’t happen overnight… It’s neglect, that’s what it is.”

Referring to the ongoing work of the Town and Schools Needs Assessment Priorities Committee (TSNAP), Fusco went on to say she was troubled to think the Town would not even consider prioritizing funding the repairs and upgrades needed for the building.

“It’s not only historically, but it’s also a culturally significant piece of property for our town,” Fusco said. “Why aren’t we thinking about finding a way to fund it?”

HDHP’s November meeting is expected to include representatives from the State Historic Preservation Office for a general discussion about tax incentives, grants or other funding avenues that might benefit Wilton’s historic properties.

Fusco noted that any recent discussions about the G&B property by the Board of Selectmen have been conducted in confidential executive sessions, out of public view. Commissioner Gilbert Weatherly also expressed a concern about the Town officials’ transparency.

“They are not discussing it in public. We don’t know what they’re thinking, and I don’t think that’s right,” Weatherly said.

First Selectman Toni Boucher has spoken publicly about the possibility of selling the building. HDHP commissioners seemed primarily interested in seeing the building properly maintained and preserved, regardless of who owns it.

“If it were to be sold to another owner, hopefully they’ll maintain it, and take care of it, and [bring it] up to the condition that it really deserves,” said Fusco.

While other boards and commissions are supported by town staff members, HDHP does not have a staff member or town department head who regularly attends its meetings or offers guidance.

Fusco urged commissioners to keep informed about other boards’ and commissions’ discussions about G&B or other historic properties so that HDHP could be proactive.

“Let’s just all be mindful that these things are going on… we have to be detectives,” she said.

G&B Update from Boucher — “I’m a Preservationist”

After reporting on the health and safety issues at the G&B building on Sept. 30, GMW spoke to Boucher on two occasions (Oct. 1 and Oct. 8) about the situation.

Although tenants of the building were surprised and frustrated by the unexpected order to leave, Boucher said that the process had subsequently progressed according to plan, relatively smoothly.

She was pleased to report that the manager of the WEPCO facilities at 48 New Canaan Rd. had notified her that the displaced tenants could find space available at WEPCO.

“So that was good news — we actually had a place for them to land, given the unfortunate circumstances of building,” Boucher said.

She also reported that the Town is in the process of soliciting bids for a study of what would be needed to remediate mold and other problems in the building to make it safe again.

“The only option [was] to shut it down until we can remediate. And even if you remediate, we still have to fix the building,” she said, referring to the major repairs to the roof, septic and other upgrades. “Right now, the Town cannot afford two to three million dollars.”

“My personal bent is preservation. I’m a preservationist. That’s why, at times I’m at odds with Planning and Zoning, because I would like to see Wilton preserve a lot of its historic buildings. And I consider [G&B] one that should be preserved,” Boucher said. “But it was allowed to deteriorate to such a point that the cost is so astronomical right now, we can’t.”