A first-ever State of the Town talk on Wednesday evening, May 29, featuring keynote addresses from First Selectman Toni Boucher and Wilton Schools Superintendent Kevin Smith, drew some concerns and questions about development, but also appreciation of the chance for a public dialogue.
The Wilton Library and Wilton Chamber of Commerce played host to the forum, alongside the town itself. Around 50 people were in attendance, while the event was also live-streamed on GOOD Morning Wilton.
Resident Candace Cole earned applause in voicing her frustration and sense of helplessness with the housing developments coming to Wilton.
“I’m extremely upset about all those apartment buildings going in,” she said. “You talked about how amazing Wilton is [but it won’t] stay the same when you add 1,100 apartments.”
Cole said the town had neither the means nor the traffic flow to accommodate these units and their residents.
“You want to keep property value high?” she said. “Then we definitely need to keep our town a town and not turn it into a mini city.”
“I don’t understand how this happened,” she added, opining that the town residents appeared to have had no say in the matter.
After noting that about 15 other people in the room shared this resident’s concerns, Boucher pointed out that the Planning and Zoning Commission was the group they needed to seek answers from.
“I am very happy you spoke up because I’ve been getting phone calls and emails as well,” Boucher said.
“Just so you know, the town Board of Selectmen does not make a decision on any development application … That is the purview and the decision-making solely of the Planning and Zoning Commission,” she said, noting that this year the candidates that ran for open seats on P&Z were all unopposed.
“It’s so important that they hear from you,” Boucher said, explaining that the limitations set by the commission on public comment during its online-only meetings have frustrated residents.
“I have encouraged them to have public comment generally, but it’s up to their leadership to decide how they run their meeting,” she said.
[Editor’s note: Read GMW‘s recent story, “Hearing Little Public Comment, P&Z Moves to Approve 64 Danbury Rd.” for more on the topic of public comment at P&Z and other land use commission meetings.]
Cole followed up by stating about the P&Z, “They don’t care. they just keep doing what they’re doing.”
One resident, Peter Slavin, voiced his support for the P&Z, noting that the town has an obligation to provide housing for ASML employees, as well as other large businesses.
“I think we’re going in the right direction,” he said, noting that neighboring towns also offer activities and night life.
“The people on the Planning and Zoning are very experienced,” Slavic said. “They’re architects. They’re professionals. Maybe it’s self-serving in some way, I don’t know, but there’s room for everything.”
Boucher pointed out that, excepting developments at 141 and 131 Danbury Rd., everything at least is on hold pending approval from the city of Norwalk to increase Wilton’s sewer capacity.
“We are at almost 98% capacity,” she said, explaining that the town contracts with Norwalk through the Water Pollution Control Authority, which is made up of Wilton’s five-person Board of Selectmen and Lori Bufano, a former BOS member who was also elected to the Board of Education last year.
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“We are in a position right now to hold off on many of these that have been approved for a while until we find out if we can get more water capacity from Norwalk,” Boucher said. “We’re in negotiations with them. They haven’t yet approved anything but they’re thinking about it. We would have to pay them for it. That means if we pay them for it, whoever is using it will be assessed for it.”
Resident Alan Davies asked why the value of commercial real estate isn’t being increased in town, with a focus on the “health” of retail.
“I would like to put a lot of questions to the chair of Planning and Zoning,” he said.
“How do we make it so that the next time we do a revaluation that there is a disproportionate increase in commercial real estate revaluations?”
Boucher cautioned that development is not always the answer.
“The more development you get, you have to balance (the) revenues coming in with the cost to the community … I’d be cautious to equate more development with increased revenues, because there’s a cost,” she said.
Both Boucher and Smith made reference to the town’s 2019 Plan of Conservation and Development, which provides some guidance to the P&Z in its mission.
“It’s the blueprint for development for the town of Wilton for the next several years and it lays out the rationale … It’s a really well-done document and I suspect it will answer a lot of questions for folks,” said Smith, who is also a Wilton resident and has children in the school district.
Resident Sara Zawoiski expressed her support for a potential ban on cellphones for students in the Wilton Public Schools, which will be getting a closer look in days to come.
“Ban the phones, parents,” she said. “They’ll survive. We survived. Please. It’s killing our kids.”
Smith shared some details about the work of the school district’s Mental Health Task Force, which has raised the question of cellphone use as a negative contributor to jeopardized mental health among young people.
“There’s plenty of emerging literature,” Smith said, proposing that the town as a whole consider its relationship to cellphones.
Resident Diane Russ, who expressed strong concern about speeding on Rte. 7 and in Wilton Center, also stated that she and others appreciate this forum to talk with the town officials.
“I think it’s fairly clear … that most people would want this more than once a year,” she said.
Boucher expressed some agreement, including the idea of involving other town officials.
“I’d love to have one with Planning and Zoning for sure,” Boucher said.
“I encourage them all the time to get more citizen input … They need to be hearing from the public,” she said.
Thank you for providing the live feed to watch the meeting. I really appreciated being able to watch it.
I was not at the subject meeting but agree with the concerning comments for apartment development on RTE 7. Just take a ride to 141 apartments and try to exit the driveway and make a left turn! I couldn’t do it due to traffic and went right and drove 1/4 mile to turn around! Unless traffic lights are planned, this area of 131 and 141 will be a nightmare! Seems P&Z forgot to do the planning part for traffic control? They say the State is responsible for RTE 7 traffic, I say it’s just bad planning!
A lot to unpack here. I think a lot of people aren’t very aware of the realities the town faces re: development. For one, the state has a housing “crisis.” The inventory of homes and rentals, especially here, is lower than its EVER been. Wilton’s inventory is incredibly low, with most properties receiving immediate, multiple offers. I find the comment about keeping property values high by one speaker to be odd and confusing, as property values here have never been remotely as high as they are now. Take a look at asking vs selling prices of any home the past year. There’s simply no better time to be a seller in Wilton right now. So, frankly, that argument falls flat.
Two, the town’s hands are pretty much tied when it comes to limiting development. You can’t tell a commercial property owner what to do, ultimately, with their building.and/or land if what they want to do is within reason. Yes, ideally, you’ll have both sides agree to make changes and such. That happens a lot. But that doesn’t always happen. At the end of the day, landlords like Kimco can bankrupt the town fighting P&Z rulings if they wanted to. We’ve also seen property owners get so frustrated with P&Z that they’ll (legally) re-design a building that has greater impact than before. That’s what happened with 12 Godfrey Pl. Instead of the original 32 units, there will now be 40 and the building will be taller. Oops!
Third, the town also has its hands somewhat tied re: housing, as we’re way off course providing enough affordable housing units. Those laws are in place statewide and the state has every right to intervene in certain instances. They have the ultimate say.
My family has been here for 38 years. Wilton looks nothing like it did in 1986 – and will look much different 38 years from now than it does currently. Sadly, as human populations continue to grow exponentially, that’s the price we will to pay. Frankly, I’ve never considered the town “amazing,” as a speaker at the forum did. There’s never been much to attract people here outside of the school system. Our town center is “fine,” but it’s a long way from ever being ideal and exciting. With multiple, private owners throughout the Center, we don’t have any real say in how it changes, for better or worse. The town’s “Master Plan” is nothing more than a wish list that I believe is a waste of time. We can’t force any of those property owners to do anything, much less adhere to our ideal scenario. We’re not the ones paying for any of it. They would all have to foot the bill. But no one is going to do that out of their own good graces.
Unfortunately, most of SW CT is growing in population very rapidly. All area towns are struggling with how to deal with it – and it’s become a real burden for everyone as we have more traffic, limited, poorly-planned and outdated infrastructure and growing demands on our schools, emergency services and, ultimately, for more housing. I don’t pretend to have any solutions other than moving away from here. That’s something we will more than likely do once our son graduates in three years.
I feel a lot of the same frustrations, as I don’t equate “development” in an overall sense with “progress.” I loathe traffic and crowds. But I also have to accept what our realities are here.
If Wilton is seeking to bring in thousands of more residents with the new apartment projects, then the town must find ways to better protect renters. Serious problems with landlords cannot just be passed off to the Housing Court where cases could take several years to be resolved. As of now, there is no Rental Board, and no mediator with landlords who have failed to make necessary repairs at their properties (Code Enforcement Officer; Health Dept. Inspector.) If the town can afford to budget for a restaurant inspector, then Wilton can find funds for inspections at rental properties, or establish a rental board. Unfortunately, the companies that own the three largest apartment properties in town are being sued in jurisdictions across the country for illegally colluding on rent hikes, and the CT Attorney General has stated he may investigate those companies’ business practices in the state. Because Wilton has lax oversight, and few protections in place for renters, the town appears to have become a draw for companies willing, and able to exploit renters.