The Monday, Dec. 8 meeting of the Wilton Planning and Zoning Commission seemed to be the opening of a new chapter for the powerful town board, whose recent decisions and procedures came under criticism during this year’s election.
The commission itself is a much different entity than the one that existed just a few weeks ago: with all three Republican candidates losing their races, the commission is now controlled by Democrats for the first time in recent memory. The leadership of the commission has also turned over, after Rick Tomasetti resigned on Nov. 17 ahead of the seating of new members and the expected election of a Democrat to replace him as chair.
One of those recently departed commissioner will soon return, however. One month after voters declined to reelect Jill Warren Duncan to her role on the commission, P&Z members accepted Warren Duncan’s nomination by the Wilton Republican Town Committee to appoint her to the seat vacated by Tomasetti. Due to charter rules, only a Republican could be appointed to the seat, but Warren Duncan had the support of the Democratic Town Committee as well. After a brief discussion in which those commissioners who served with her in the prior term sang her praises, Warren Duncan was unanimously reappointed back onto the Commission.
First, a Bit of Housekeeping
Electing new officers was indeed also among the first items of business on Monday. All three officers were elected unanimously: Commissioner Ken Hoffman as chair, Commissioner Mark Ahasic as vice chair, and Commissioner Michelle Saglimbene as secretary.
With the appointment of Duncan and the elections of officers, the members of P&Z are now as follows:
- Kenneth Hoffman (D), Chair
- Mark Ahasic (D), Vice Chair
- Michelle Saglimbene (D), Secretary
- Anthony Cenatiempo (R), Member
- Trevor Huffard (D), Member
- Jessica Rainey (D), Member
- Margit Ritz (D), Member
- Melissa-Jean Rotini (U/R endorsed), Member
- Jill Warren Duncan (R), Member
Second, a New Approach to Public Engagement
With Hoffman and Ahasic now in leadership roles, it’s no surprise that the new term began with a reexamination of the commission’s public engagement policies.
As GOOD Morning Wilton has reported, Tomasetti’s had started his term as chair statements supporting limits on public comment on P&Z applications. His view of the role of the public in commission activities was reflected in the particularly restrictive approach taken in recent years. Broader, holistic comments about the overall impact of development trends on the town were blocked outright, and meetings only allowed for comments from the public specific to individual projects during the final moments of an application (often mere minutes at the end of a months-long “public hearing” process.)
Hoffman and Ahasic each individually began challenging this approach over the last 18 months. In July 2024, Ahasic attempted to read written comments submitted to the commission by Wilton residents during a hearing on Kimco’s River Rd. redevelopment and was silenced by Tomasetti.
“To be honest, Chairman, it’s time for the public to be heard. We’ve had weeks and weeks and meetings and meetings from the applicant. I’m just trying to give a forum to the public,” Ahasic said at the time.
At the conclusion of that meeting, Tomasetti ordered that commissioners do additional training with the Town Counsel about their obligations to applicants over recent social media postings. He appeared to be referring to an exchange on a Facebook group in which a constituent asked how to attend a P&Z meeting and Ahasic replied with the zoom link.
Ahead of that meeting with Town Counsel Peter Gelderman in October 2024, Hoffman pushed back on the argument that a more open dialogue with the public was legally problematic for the commission.
“I would like Counsel to address whether we can have once a quarter or once every six months, a meeting just taking public input into the planning process for Wilton,” Hoffman said on Oct. 15. “I think that people don’t think they’re listened to.” He asked that Gelderman come with research backing up the purported advice that these restrictive policies were required to protect the town from lawsuits by applicants.
He did not get the evidence he was looking for, however. At the meeting with Gelderman on Oct. 28, Hoffman expressed frustration that the attorney had not provided any case law as requested and summarized the message of Gelderman’s presentation as “Don’t do anything.”
Hoffman wasted no time as chair bringing the issue back into the spotlight.
“I do know that other Planning and Zoning Commissions [in Connecticut] have public comment forums as part of their meetings,” he said on Monday, laying out four broad areas in particular where he thought Wilton residents should have an opportunity to weigh in. He clarified that comments would have to be holistic in scope, not focused on specific applications.
While noting that he wanted input from Town Counsel on any legal considerations, Hoffman proposed the creation of four subcommittees. Each would be chaired by 1-2 P&Z commissioners and would focus on soliciting public input and providing the commission with research on how other towns manage the following issues:
- affordable Housing
- transit Planning
- community spaces
- public-private partnerships
Hoffman received no pushback on the idea of engaging the public on these issues, but some commissioners expressed concern about their capacity to chair an ongoing subcommittee. At Ahasic’s suggestion, the commission pivoted to the idea of forums held on each of the topics, with a clear start and end date for the public to weigh in. They also discussed whether framing the forums as tri-board or quad-board might alleviate legal concerns about P&Z hosting such discussions.
Wrinn suggested Hoffman as chair meet with Town Counsel about this new proposal, but Hoffman said he preferred to have the discussion out in the open as part of an upcoming P&Z meeting.
Third, a Look Ahead
Before concluding the meeting, Wrinn went over upcoming applications and other items that the commission will soon take up, including the proposed redevelopment of the School Sisters of Notre Dame site as an elder care facility, the proposed adaptive reuse of the former Baptist Church site as a condo complex, and an application by ASML to open a new driveway to their facility through what is currently a residential street.
The commission also agreed to revisit and likely revise the Request for Proposals to modernize the town’s zoning regulations.
The next meeting of the Planning & Zoning Commission is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 and will include a public hearing on the former Baptist Church site at 254 Danbury Rd.