As P&Z Review Nears, Opponents Mobilize Against SSND Senior Living Proposal

As Wilton’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) prepares to review an application to redevelop the former School Sisters of Notre Dame property at 329-331-345 Belden Hill Rd. in September, organizers of the Wilton Neighbors Alliance (WNA) are gearing up to make sure their arguments against the project are heard.

Developer Hines SL Wilton Associates LP is proposing to redevelop the 38-acre property into a senior living community with 280 residential independent living, assisted living, and memory care units. While the facility’s distinctive chapel will be retained as a common-use space, Hines plans to raze the other existing buildings on the site. The Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) approved Hines’ wetlands permit application in June, a decision that is currently being appealed in Superior Court.

The WNA held two public informational sessions in late July to hear residents’ concerns and questions, identify issues to investigate further, and solicit outreach strategies for working groups to pursue. They also encouraged residents to submit letters to P&Z and participate in the upcoming public hearings to ensure their voices were heard.

“Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?”

“We began this as an open exploration … and we agreed as a group that [we would] follow the facts where they lead us,” WNA spokesperson Alissa Brady said in an interview with GOOD Morning Wilton. “If the facts take us to, ‘Wow, okay, maybe we need to rethink our opposition,’ [that’s] okay, but that’s not what we’re finding.”

Alliance members are concerned that a large continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in the residentially zoned neighborhood — which would require a change to the zoning regulations, which Hines is seeking — will significantly increase local traffic as staff, caregivers, cleaners, maintenance crews, visitors and commercial deliveries travel to and from the site every day.

The group contends that the facility’s daily wastewater discharge, which will include lawn irrigation and en-suite showers and baths for nearly 300 residential units, is likely to be considerably greater than what the town has already allocated to the School Sisters.

They also reject Hines’ claims that the project meets the housing diversity goals of the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD), arguing that what they say are typically steep entrance fees and monthly charges associated with CCRCs could price out many Wilton residents.

“This is a community that’s designed to benefit the operator, the owner, not the town, not most of the residents,” Brady said. Her property at 302 Belden Hill Rd. is across New Canaan Rd. from the School Sisters property.

Proponents point out that a CCRC would generate tax revenue for the town — in its application to P&Z, Hines estimates the project would generate more than $1.5 million in annual revenues for Wilton and become one of the town’s five largest taxpayers. However, WNA counters that the revenue would represent only a small fraction of Wilton’s overall annual property-tax revenues, which totaled nearly $136 million in the FY 2025 adopted budget, questioning whether the fiscal benefit justifies changing the zoning regulations.

“Of course there’s going to be tax revenue. I think the question really is: Is the juice worth the squeeze?” WNA member John Brady told GMW. “I’m not going to argue that there’s [no] tax revenue, but … I don’t know that it’s enough to say we should change our zoning and permit a nonconforming use when we have a Plan of Conservation and Development that says this use belongs in a different spot.”

To date, WNA has gathered nearly 900 signatures on its two petitions, and has placed at least 90 signs around town — several of which the group says have recently been stolen. WNA points to the geographic diversity of petition signers as evidence that adjacent neighbors aren’t the only opponents to the proposal; according to their data, nearly 70% of the signers live a mile or more away, and the median distance from the property of signers is 1.79 miles.

Hines Challenges Neighbors Alliance Claims

In a written response to questions from GMW provided by Hines attorney Lisa Feinberg, the developer pointed to a professional traffic study it commissioned that concluded traffic from the proposed CCRC would be “nearly equivalent” to the traffic generated when the existing facility served as a college for nuns and later as a 325-bed skilled nursing facility. The response also noted that Hines plans to schedule staff shift changes outside of “peak traffic hours.”

On wastewater, the company points to the Wilton Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) review of the proposal, saying the authority agreed with the developer’s finding that sewer discharge from the new facility would be “roughly equivalent to the amount of effluent that could be discharged by the existing facilities if operating at full capacity,” not including irrigation.

In terms of water supply, the property is served by a 12-inch main connected to two water towers on New Canaan Rd.

Addressing WNA’s concerns about the project’s fiscal benefits, Hines’ responses emphasized the potential value of adding a major taxpayer to Wilton’s tax base.

“Notably, having a significant commercial tax base is the best way to reduce the tax burden on single-family homeowners.”

“We Have the Same Motivation”

Wilton resident David Rintoul, who founded Support the Sisters (STS) to help organize residents who back the project, said that it’s important to consider the alternatives that the School Sisters might have to choose from if the project is denied.

“One of the members of the [WNA] told me they can’t imagine anything worse than the School Sisters,” Rintoul told GMW. “I think that shows a real lack of imagination at how bad it could be.”

One of the reasons Rintoul supports the Hines proposal is because it will adhere to School Sisters’ caveats that any new development on the site will not be taller than three stories and will maintain a 150-foot setback from the road, which is three times more than what Wilton’s zoning regulations require. A developer building an apartment complex under the state’s 8-30g affordable housing statute would not have to abide by height or setback requirements.

Another reason he supports the proposal is because he agrees with Hines’ study showing that a CCRC will generate low volumes of traffic.

“One thing the neighbors keep focusing on is the number of parking spaces and saying, ‘Well, if there’s going to be no traffic, why do you need 240 or something parking spaces?'” Rintoul said. “Zoning regulations require that number of parking spaces. They have to put them in whether they think they’re going to be used or not.”

Turning the property into a park would be financially unrealistic, Rintoul argued. He estimates it could cost up to $25 million to acquire, raze and refurbish the property. And selling the property to a developer of single-family homes would not generate an adequate return for the School Sisters after all the necessary demolition was paid for, he argued.

“The [School Sisters’] board of directors has a fiduciary duty to its members to prudently manage its real estate assets,” Rintoul told GMW. “They cannot simply just give the property to the town and surrender $10-, $11-, $12-, $15 million.”

Rintoul, whose property at 358 Belden Hill Rd. is across the street from the property, said the Support the Sister’s mailing list has around 120 people and, like WNA, the group is a loose coalition of people who have a wide range of perspectives and reasons for joining. Also like WNA, he said the organization does not take a pro- or anti-development stance.

“We have the same motivation [as WNA], which is to keep Wilton being a wonderful place,” Rintoul said. “We have disagreements over how to achieve that, but everyone who’s active in both groups, they’re doing it because they think they’re doing what’s best for the town.”

Supporters, Opponents Both Support Community Conversation

Speaking on behalf of WNA, Alissa Brady stressed that the group is not trying to dictate what should happen to the property, but rather wants to foster a thoughtful and informed conversation in the community to find the best possible outcome. Ultimately, however, the decision will come down to whether P&Z agrees that Hines has made the case that its proposal conforms to the uses allowed by the town’s zoning regulations.

“What we really want is for a conversation to happen,” Brady said. “We should let the process unfold.”