In May 2024, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved an application to build a 4.5-story, 208-unit multifamily building alongside the Norwalk River at 131 Danbury Rd., next door to the new 173-unit Riverside Wilton apartment complex at 141 Danbury Rd.
Much of the proposed development lies within the Norwalk River’s floodplain, and the project included plans to park roughly 160 cars in an area of frequent flooding. Area residents, Inland Wetlands Commission members and even Wilton Director of Environmental Affairs Mike Conklin raised questions and concerns about the potential threat to the Norwalk River. Neighbors from the nearby Wilton Hills community echoed these concerns, providing photographs and testimony about the frequency and severity of flooding on the site.
At the time, Craig Flaherty of Redniss and Mead argued on behalf of the applicant that, according to Wilton’s zoning regulations, any development in Wilton’s flood plains is a zoning regulation matter and could only be addressed by the Planning and Zoning Commission. When the Inland Wetlands Commission eventually approved the project on Mar. 28, 2024, its members directed Conklin to include a warning about this issue in the Commission’s memo to P&Z. In that memo, Conklin wrote that the Inland Wetlands Commission “was of the opinion that the applicant did not adequately address questions and concerns about pollutants from parked cars washing into the river during high flooding events.”
When the application reached P&Z, the applicant’s team minimized those concerns. Megan Raymond of SLR Consulting stated that the plan would pose “minimal to low potential” for pollutants to reach the river. She also claimed that the Inland Wetlands Commission “affirmed” this finding when it approved the project. After its own public hearing process, P&Z approved the application and its parking plan.
A few months later, on Aug. 18, 2024, more than eight inches of rain fell in Wilton within a seven-hour period, flooding many of the town’s thoroughfares, including the site of the future 131 Danbury Rd.
Now, almost a year after it was first approved, 131 Danbury Rd.’s team returned to P&Z to address the floodplain issue after all, proposing a new plan they say will be better for Wilton and the Norwalk River. The new application elevates the property’s parking area out of the floodplain, raising the lowest level six feet above the ground and clearing any potential stormwater. Both Inland Wetlands and the Conservation Commission approved the new application.
The applicants presented their new plan to P&Z on Monday, Mar. 24, 2025, in an application that would modify the special permit granted last May and amend the pertinent zoning regulation text. Their new proposal would require Wilton to loosen its setback regulations and allow the development to extend closer to the river itself.
After closing the public hearing on the new application, the majority of the P&Z members felt the improvements proposed would be better for the river and the environment, safer for cars, and minimally of an impact on neighbors. While two commissioners argued against changing Wilton’s regulations to “fix the [developer’s] problem” even though they knew the flood risks the first time around, the majority agreed that the regulation change the applicant asked for was “minimal,” and they were in favor of it.
Planning and Zoning will vote on the current 131 Danbury Rd. proposal at its meeting this evening, Monday, Apr. 14, at 7 p.m. Members of the public can watch the meeting on Zoom.