Total New Apartments in Wilton Nears 900 as P&Z Approves Toll Bros’ 208-Units at Train Station

On Monday, Feb. 24, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to approve the Toll Brothers’ proposal for a five-story 208-unit pair of buildings at 15 Old Danbury Rd., the latest in a wave of new apartment developments. The site sits adjacent to the Wilton Train Station and is visible from all directions at the Ridgefield Rd./Danbury Rd. intersection. It is part of the Transit-Oriented Development overlay area created by P&Z through the Greater Wilton Center Master Plan process, which allows greater density and height. At five stories high, it will also be among the tallest structures in town.

The project has been under review in one way or another since Oct. 2023. Through three rounds of pre-application review with P&Z and three more with its advisory group, the Architectural Review Board, the design went through multiple iterations, at one point being panned as “a big, ugly box.” The current design is the fourth one proposed, and incorporates a wide array of design elements such as recessed floors, balconies, and gable roofs. It appears to feature at least 10 different window forms, six roof shapes, and five façade materials.

Public comment is not permitted during the pre-application phase, so more than a year of review passed before the public could weigh in. In Jan. 2025, Town Planner Michael Wrinn noted that the Commission had received “a tremendous amount of public input” in the first few days in which written comment was allowed. By the time public comment closed on Feb. 10, 70 letters were received by the town and posted in the application file, the group split fairly evenly between supporters and detractors. Eleven members of the public also spoke during the formal public hearing that evening, including local architect Barbara Geddis.

Geddis served on the P&Z master plan subcommittee that drafted the new zoning regulations the Toll Brothers are now using to allow this development. She noted that she had submitted a memo of architectural suggestions that appeared to never have been posted. As a result, her proposals for improving the design of the complex were never shared with Toll Brothers during the period of time in which the developer could have made changes to the application.

Ahead of the vote on Monday, P&Z sought a solution for this seemingly inadvertent omission, by adding a clause to the resolution of approval requiring the applicant to “review the architectural design and possible changes to the architectural plans as suggested at the public hearings.” An existing clause also requires Toll Brothers to come back to P&Z if they wish to make any changes to the design based on that review.

However, once an application is approved, the Commission cannot require a developer to consider additional feedback that the town did not share within the legal review period. One Commissioner seemed unimpressed by the attempt.  

“Listen, I don’t want to rock the boat here, but I don’t know what the point of the language is, other than to feel good that they said they would look at it,” Commissioner Anthony Cenatiempo said. “There’s no obligation for them to make changes. How long should they look at it? For an hour? For 10 minutes?”

“Anthony, would you prefer if we added in the clause that they review it ‘in good faith?’” asked Vice Chair Melissa-Jean Rotini.

“Actually, I prefer that there not be a clause at all, but it would be better for me if it said ‘good faith,’ sure,” he replied.

After that exchange, the Commission approved the project with the amended language.

Looking Ahead

The approval of 15 Old Danbury Rd. brings the total apartments approved in this wave of multifamily development to 890, beginning with 141 Danbury Rd. In the last nine months alone, the Commission has greenlit 677 new apartments in Wilton Center and along Danbury Rd.

Before closing the meeting, the Commission accepted an application for the next new apartment development headed downtown: Rich Granoff’s four-story 20-unit building proposed for 118 Old Ridgefield Rd. across the street from the library. The P&Z review of this proposal is expected to begin at P&Z’s Monday, Mar. 24 meeting. It will be heard at the Village District Design Advisory Committee on Thursday, Mar. 6.

Granoff is also the developer behind 12 Godfrey Pl., the five-story apartment building under construction between the library and the post office, which was withdrawn and resubmitted as an 8-30g project after P&Z threatened to reject the project. The Commission had hoped to convince Granoff to hold off on 12 Godfrey Pl. until the Wilton Center master plan had been completed but Granoff’s suspicion that the process would take longer than the Commission claimed proved to be correct: the nine-month master plan process ultimately lasted nearly two years. 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated that the project started pre-application review more than two years before public comment was allowed. It has been updated to reflect that it was more than one year.