Affordable housing — and how Wilton plans to meet its state obligations — dominated discussion at last Monday’s (Feb. 9) meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), as town officials outlined current unit counts and upcoming calculations under the state’s 8-30g statute.
Unexpectedly, the broader conversation on the town’s zoning regulations, traffic mitigation guidelines, and the Cannondale master plan took on added urgency when Director of Planning and Land Use Management Michael Wrinn revealed that approximately $100,000 in anticipated consultant funding appears to be missing, forcing the town to pause work on zoning updates and other key planning initiatives.
Understanding Wilton’s Affordable Housing
In the run-up to the 2029 Plan of Conservation and Development, work on which is scheduled to kick off next year, P&Z discussed the current state of Wilton’s affordable housing. Wrinn told commissioners that as of February 2026, Wilton has 248 affordable rental units and 249 affordable units for sale, with 57 additional affordable rental units in pre-construction across five projects.
Wrinn said Assistant Town Planner Daphne White is in the process of preparing a document explaining how far along the town is in meeting the state’s requirements for affordable housing. Under the state’s 8-30g affordable housing statute, a municipality is granted its certificate of affordable housing completion when its “housing unit-equivalent points” equals 2% of total dwelling units, with a minimum of 75 points. With approximately 6,200 dwelling units, Wilton would require roughly 124 points to earn the certification.
Wrinn said that White should be ready to present her analysis at the Feb. 23 P&Z meeting.
Wrinn noted that the calculations are complicated by several factors, including the expiration of the town’s 8-30g moratorium in 2019 that had been granted because of its efforts to increase the number of affordable houses, and also because of the long lead times between the granting of permits for new residential developments and their completion. He also pointed out that the town currently has two larger-scale multi-family living projects in development that will fall under the 8-30g statute, which he described as “a big hammer” because those units will qualify for a higher number of housing unit-equivalent points than other housing.
“But you take a regular development that doesn’t have a lot of units in it, and it’s going to take you a while to get up there,” Wrinn said. “And I don’t think you’re close at this point … to get [another] moratorium.”
Wrinn noted that Wilton’s zoning regulations include several zoning types that are currently not being used that may allow a higher percentage of affordable housing units. Commissioner Anthony Cenatiempo suggested that the town could assign higher percentages of affordable homes to some zones in order to balance out the overall average. Huffard noted that many other towns have a similar percentage mix in their zoning.
“I think the question is, is that what do we want to do with the affordable housing percentage going forward,” Hoffman said. “I mean, we can’t, as we’ve talked about, recreate the past on this and require more affordable housing and things that have already been approved for permit, but we can — and that’s where the other calculation, which is quite complicated, comes into play, where we wanted to play with some numbers, see some estimates of future development, and start thinking about what we might want to do going forward. Then there is just the overall principle of what we think the number should be, but that is, we were trying to get some context for that.”
Wrinn noted that towns use various methods to oversee management of affordable housing initiatives. For example, New Canaan has a housing authority, while other towns rely on nonprofit organizations or have a dedicated fund using monies taken from building permits.
Hoffman said that the problems he sees for Wilton are two-fold: budget and the lack of public-private partnerships. He encouraged Wrinn to look at New Canaan as an example, as it has made progress lately in these areas.
“I still think that there is a way that we can get our hands around some of this … which is that we can have, you know, different solutions for different areas, as you said, and we can also do different solutions based on size,” Hoffman said. “It’s the tenor of this group to try and increase … the affordability effort to a level which does not force people into 8-30g but is reflective of … market realities.”
Consulting Projects Delayed by Missing Funds
As GOOD Morning Wilton! is reporting elsewhere today, P&Z has had to pause, at least temporarily, its efforts to hire a consultant to draft updates to the town’s zoning regulations and its historic Cannondale master plan, as well as one for ensuring its compliance with the state’s new housing law (HB 8002), due to an unexpected shortage in available planning and zoning department funds.
During an update on the selection of a consultant for this work, Wrinn surprised the commissioners in attendance with the news that of the $220,000 he had been assured was available for hiring consultants for these projects, $100,000 appears to be missing. The details are still unclear, but it appears to be related to the recent turnovers in Finance Department leadership and the haphazard transition to a new accounting system.
“This throws a real wrench in the works and we’re trying to work through that,” Wrinn told the commissioners. “We have to work through it quickly with the finance department because as we’re sitting here, the [Fiscal 2027] budget’s going through the process day by day. I need to get those numbers in, and I need to get them to the Board of Selectmen.”
Rolling Hills Country Club Permit Approved
Also Monday evening, the P&Z commissioners unanimously agreed that a request by Rolling Hills Country Club to transfer its liquor permit did not require an amendment to its operating agreement with the Town. The approval was essentially a pro-forma matter to meet the requirements of the CT Department of Consumer Protection Liquor Control Division that the club’s live entertainment activities are approved by the Town.
The club is seeking the transfer so that the club’s new general manager can be designated as the license’s permittee.
“Historically, the Club has offered modest, customary live entertainment as a component of its country club operations,” the club’s attorney Doug Bayer wrote in a letter to P&Z seeking approval of the change. “This includes indoor and outdoor music and similar entertainment associated with member functions, social events, and private rentals, all within permissible hours, on a limited, seasonal basis, and in accordance with the noise ordinances of the Town.”
In response to questions by commissioner Trevor Huffard and commissioner Jessica Rainey, Bayer confirmed that the live entertainment will continue to be subject to Wilton’s Town ordinances with regard to noise restrictions, parking and lighting, and that the club is not seeking exemptions for any of those.
“So, by us just nodding our head and saying it’s not a big deal, we’re not giving [the club] more carte blanche to do anything they want in the future,” Huffard said.
“Correct, nor are we asking for that,” Bayer replied. “We truly view this as [a] need to get the liquor permit changed from one general manager to the next.”
Rolling Hills president Jon Kramer attended the meeting, but the commissioners had no questions for him.
“Anybody want to know what John’s handicap is as the president of the club?” Hoffman joked.
“Not as good as my predecessor’s,” Kramer replied.
“I was going to say it’s a lot better than mine, I’m sure,” added Bayer.
Wrinn will work with planning and zoning staff to provide the requested certification to the state liquor communication.
Public Hearings on 254 Danbury, 39 Arrowhead Rescheduled
Public hearings originally scheduled for last Monday’s session on the applications for a change in zoning, regulations amendment, and special permits for the proposed redevelopment project at the former Wilton Baptist Church at 254 Danbury Rd. were postponed until the Mar. 9 meeting.
During the meeting, Wrinn also provided a brief update on the application by ASML for a change in zoning for its recently acquired property at 39 Arrowhead Rd. in order to construct an emergency access driveway on the property, which is adjacent to its 77 Danbury Rd. facility. Wrinn said that ASML pulled its previous application due to a looming statutory deadline, and has resubmitted it.
The next meeting of the Planning & Zoning Commission is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 23, 2026 at 7 p.m. An agenda for the meeting has not yet been released.
Editor’s note: due to an editing error, an earlier version of the story showed an incorrect section heading. The story has been updated to include “Understanding Wilton’s Affordable Housing” as the correct heading.