Key Points
- Plans to replace the former Palace Rugs showroom cleared a wetlands permitting step.
- The developer outlined construction safeguards and landscaping improvements near the Norwalk River.
- The proposed retail building still faces Planning and Zoning review.
Why It Matters: The project could replace a deteriorating building along Wilton’s southern gateway while addressing protection of adjacent wetlands and the Norwalk River.
Just shy of a year after receiving positive feedback from Wilton’s Architectural Review Board (ARB) for its plan to raze the former Palace Rugs showroom near the Norwalk town line and replace it with a new building on the same foundation, developer 11 Danbury Rd. LLC received the Inland Wetlands Commission‘s (IWC) unanimous approval for a wetland permit as the next step toward eventually replacing the deteriorating building.
Commissioners had no questions or comments for the developer, represented by engineer Harry Rocheville, or for landscape architect Kate Throckmorton during their presentation at the Thursday, Oct. 8 meeting, which lasted less than 15 minutes.
Rocheville explained that the developer’s plans called for demolishing the existing 1950s-era building, reinforcing the existing foundation and building a new one-story building with vaulted cathedral ceilings housing two retail spaces. The design of the building is intended to emulate the nearby retail building at 19 Danbury Rd., which shares the same owner.
Rocheville explained that most of the construction work can be performed using equipment staged on the parking lot in front of the building to minimize potential hazards to the wetlands adjacent to the Norwalk River that runs behind the building. Due largely to space constraints, work that needs to be conducted in the rear — mostly involving the installation of siding and finishing — will be performed by hand. Barriers will be erected to prevent construction materials and debris from entering the wetland buffer zone. Rocheville added that construction crews will clean up the buffer area at the end of each workday.
The sole existing stormwater drain, which empties directly into the wetland, will be replaced with a catch basin at the front of the building and leaders and splash pads in the rear. Flood vents will be installed in the foundation to bring it into compliance with current regulations.
Throckmorton said that the area behind the building will be substantially renovated. This will involve removing debris piles as well as air conditioning units and their concrete pads. A variety of native herbaceous plants will be planted in a way that will not inhibit access to the back of the building for maintenance. The existing trees will be allowed to remain because they are holding the riverbank “very well,” but vines will be removed to ensure the trees remain healthy.
Immediately following Throckmorton’s presentation, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve the developer’s wetland permit application (commissioner Jay Rooney was absent).
The presentation represented the bulk of the brief meeting, with IWC chair Jason Terry commenting at the end that he believed it set a new record for the shortest meeting by this particular board.
Although the ARB held a pre-application review of the developer’s architectural plans last October, the proposal did not proceed to a formal application and work session before ARB. Late last month, the developer submitted a site development plan for the proposed construction to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), but a public hearing has not yet been scheduled.
