Key Points
- The WPCA formally adopted a sewer-flow methodology that Wilton had used in some form without formal approval since 2024.
- Members received extensive supporting material approximately 26 hours before the vote, prompting member Kim Healy to oppose immediate action.
- During the same special meeting, the authority revised two-year-old minutes even though that action was not listed on the agenda.
Why It Matters: Wilton’s sewer rules can affect which major developments receive limited capacity, making transparent adoption, adequate notice and consistent application important to residents and applicants.
Wilton’s Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) voted Wednesday, Aug. 19, to formally adopt a particular sewer-flow calculation it has used in some form since 2024, despite one member’s objection that the supporting documents arrived only about 26 hours before the special meeting.
During the same meeting, the WPCA also revised minutes from February 2024 to clarify which sewer-capacity policies it had approved at the time. That action was not listed on Wednesday’s special-meeting agenda, which identified only the approval of minutes from the WPCA’s June 10 public hearing and meeting.
The WPCA’s actions matter beyond the technical details of calculating wastewater flow. Wilton has limited sewer capacity, and the authority’s rules can affect which major developments receive permission to use it.
Editor’s note: GMW is reporting on the WPCA’s actions not simply because of the sewer calculation involved, but because they reflect recurring questions about process and transparency in Town Hall decision-making. In this case, the authority used a methodology before formally approving it, gave members extensive supporting material only one day before the vote and revised a two-year-old public record without identifying that action on the special-meeting agenda.
Similar questions have surfaced in GMW’s recent coverage of late financial reporting and auditor communications and FY25 budget overages, including whether established procedures were followed, whether the public received adequate notice and whether elected officials were given timely access to information needed for meaningful oversight.
WPCA Used Formula Before Formal Approval
Since February 2024, Wilton has used a specific formula developed by former Director of Public Works (DPW) Director and Town Engineer Frank Smeriglio to estimate wastewater flow.
The calculation helps the WPCA measure projected demand to ensure it does not exceed its allocation of 650,000 gallons per day that Wilton is permitted to discharge into Norwalk’s sewer system.
Though the town has relied on the formula since its introduction over two years ago, it had never been officially incorporated into the WPCA’s regulations — until the Aug. 19 meeting.
Following the meeting, GMW asked First Selectman Toni Boucher whether formally adopting the formula would affect Wilton’s sewer allocation agreement with Norwalk.
“No, it does not affect the agreement with Norwalk in any way as this formula has been used for years,” Boucher said.
Despite the formula’s use, the decision to formally adopt it by a vote at the Aug. 19 special meeting caught WPCA member Kim Healy by surprise.
“I guess I didn’t expect to vote on this,” Healy said during the meeting. “There was a really good reason for us not to vote on this with very experienced people at the time, back in February of ’24. So, it concerns me that … this has now come back in front of us.”
“I did not expect to pass this immediately,” she added.
Boucher replied that the vote was the specific reason for holding the special meeting.
“That was not made clear in any of the communications,” Healy replied.
The meeting agenda did specify that the members would “consider certain amendments to the WPCA Rules and Regulations.” It did not explicitly state that the authority intended to vote during the meeting, although the proposed regulatory amendments were identified as business to be considered.
The Fifth Paragraph
Healy’s concern dated to the WPCA’s Feb. 14, 2024 meeting, when Smeriglio originally introduced the formula to the WPCA as a draft amendment that he proposed including as the fifth paragraph of Appendix V of the WPCA’s regulations.
However, while discussing the text of the draft during that meeting, then-member Bas Nabulsi recommended tabling the fifth paragraph for further discussion. His concern was that the formula calculated wastewater flow at 65 gallons per person per day, with the number of occupants estimated as the number of bedrooms plus one.
He questioned whether the occupancy estimate was too variable and favored basing the calculation on the number of bedrooms rather than estimating the number of people.
After the formula’s methodology was also questioned by an applicant whose proposed development would be affected by the decision, the WPCA members agreed that they needed more information before making a final decision.
The WPCA voted to approve the other four proposed paragraphs but deliberately left the fifth paragraph out. (Incidentally, the agenda for that 2024 meeting did explicitly identify a “discussion and possible vote” on the proposed amendments.)
Although the fifth paragraph formula was never formally approved, the WPCA subsequently began using a variation of the calculation for its sewer flow estimates ever since.
According to Healy, the authority never revisited the unapproved paragraph at later meetings.
That changed when the proposed fifth paragraph appeared on the agenda for the Aug. 19 special meeting with a somewhat modified formula and two new paragraphs explaining the rationale for using it.
Asked after the meeting why the formula needed to be formally adopted now after being used for more than two years, Boucher said the purpose was clarification.
“It was simply to clarify as it was discussed previously in 2024 and the intention was to put this practice in writing afterwards,” Boucher said. “We also were provided with further detailed background by our lawyer and engineer and analysis to become better informed.”
GMW also asked what additional information had been needed when the paragraph was tabled in 2024, when it was presented and whether the WPCA had revisited the paragraph before Aug. 19.
“We were provided with further detailed background by our lawyer and engineer and analysis to become better informed,” Boucher replied.
She did not identify when that material was presented or explain why the formal clarification occurred more than two years after the paragraph was tabled.
Supporting Documents Arrive One Day Before Vote
Healy also objected that WPCA members had received the packet of supporting documents for the meeting only the day before Wednesday night’s meeting. [Editor’s note: Healy told GOOD Morning Wilton that the packet arrived Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 4:50 p.m., approximately 26 hours before.]
Because of the packet’s size, she told the other members she had not had enough time before the meeting to review all the material, which included what she described as a “very lengthy” study.
“I would have hoped we would have gotten this last week, then, in time to have more time to consider,” Healy said. “You know, we’re locking ourselves into something quite significant.”
“This is the reason for the meeting,” Boucher replied. “A great deal of work was done on this to bring it to this point. We have seen this before and discussed it.”
“Well, two and a half years ago we saw it,” Healy responded.
Boucher said that Smeriglio had “been in consultation” with the town “all the way through this process.”
Following Healy’s questions, Boucher quickly made a motion to approve incorporating the modified fifth paragraph.
“I would strongly suggest, and I will make a formal motion that we pass this supplement to Appendix V to the WPCA regulations this evening. And I hope to get a second and we can discuss it further if you like,” Boucher said.
WPCA member Ross Tartell immediately seconded, and then weighed in.
“So I went back to my notes from that meeting of 2024, and Kim, at that time, you did — we did — have those concerns,” Tartell said. “To my mind, they have been largely resolved primarily because we’ve been using those numbers for the last two years. If you remember, we really struggled, and [Smeriglio] really struggled and did an excellent job of presenting what the numbers would mean. And those numbers were different from … the textbook stuff that the state was asking us to look at.”
“[Smeriglio] came up with an excellent analysis.” Tartell continued. “The month before this, [Smeriglio presented] a tremendously detailed analysis of flows, and then we had information that came from [engineering consultants] Redniss [& Mead], some really nice research underpinning this. And so I’m really very comfortable approving it.”
Healy pointed out that the fifth paragraph introduced at the Aug. 19, 2026, meeting used a somewhat different formula from the draft tabled in 2024.
Tartell said that it was “not very much different from the number five that we’re seeing before us.”
Healy ultimately voted against the amendment because she had not had enough time to review the supporting documentation. The motion passed 4-1 with Healy opposed and WPCA member David Tatkow not voting due to absence.
Altogether, the discussion and the vote lasted just over 15 minutes.
WPCA Revises Two-Year-Old Minutes
The vote to approve the fifth paragraph was not the only matter from 2024 that the WPCA addressed during the special meeting.
Although the first item on the meeting agenda listed approval of the minutes from the WPCA’s Jun. 10 public hearing and meeting, during that item Boucher also asked members to amend the minutes of its Feb. 14, 2024, meeting.
That amendment was not identified on the special-meeting agenda.
Under Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act, notice of a special meeting must specify the business to be conducted, and “no other business shall be considered” at that meeting.
Boucher said during the meeting that minutes needed to be changed “to reflect that the motion was passed to pass items one through four” — the first four paragraphs of Appendix V described above.
Those four paragraphs established that:
- Businesses considered “critical to the well-being of the Town of Wilton, State of Connecticut, and the United States of America” will receive priority when applying for increased sewer allocations.
- Private, single-property pump stations may not use pressurized pipes to discharge into the town’s right-of-way.
- WPCA permits and approvals will expire five years after they are issued unless a zoning permit has been issued and work has begun.
- Any pipe connecting to an existing sewer main will be considered at full capacity when its flow reaches 75% of its actual capacity.
Although the original 2024 minutes state that the motion to approve the policy revisions passed 6-0, they do not explicitly describe the language included in the motion.
WPCA counsel Pete Gelderman of Berchem Moses PC explained that the minutes did not make clear what the motion had approved. At Healy’s suggestion, the WPCA also added the names of the members who made and seconded the motion — Nabulsi and member Lori Bufano.
Asked after the meeting whether the change was a housekeeping measure needed before adopting the fifth paragraph or if it was necessary for another reason, Boucher told GMW it was intended only to clarify the earlier record.
“It was simply housekeeping to make the motion clear and reflect the video of the meeting,” Boucher said.
Boucher did not explain why that housekeeping change was made more than two years after the meeting or why it was not identified on the Aug. 19 special-meeting agenda.
The revision raises a separate issue from the sewer-flow formula. The formula had been left out of the 2024 vote, while the minutes change was intended to clarify that the first four paragraphs had been approved.
Potential Effect on Pending Developments
The WPCA’s formalized rules in Appendix V and its method of estimating sewer flow could affect pending development proposals because Wilton’s sewer capacity is limited.
One proposal expected to require capacity is Kimco Realty’s second phase of the Wilton Campus redevelopment at 15-21 River Rd. Kimco recently presented a pre-application to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) for 225 apartments in two new four-story residential buildings.
In anticipation of a future sewer application from Kimco, DPW Senior Civil Engineer Stephen Santacroce added Kimco’s latest figures provided by the developer to his department’s spreadsheet tracking estimated and actual sewer flows in Wilton.
The spreadsheet estimates that Kimco Phase II would generate 18,923.5 gallons per day at the Wilton/Norwalk town line.
That amount is close to the combined estimated total flow reserved for two proposed residential developments that have remained on DPW’s records for years: 300 Danbury Rd., proposed in 2019, and 24 Cannon Rd., proposed in 2009.
The third paragraph of Appendix V provides that WPCA permits and approvals expire after five years unless a zoning permit has been issued and work has begun.
As GMW reported when WPCA approved the provision in 2024, it was unclear whether the five-year limit would apply only to future approvals or could also be applied retroactively to previously approved projects.
The approvals for 300 Danbury Rd. and 24 Cannon Rd. are both more than five years old, and neither of them have begun construction. If the provision applies retroactively and either approval is determined to have expired, removing that project’s reserved flow from the tracking spreadsheet could make more projected sewer capacity available for newer proposals, and anticipate challenges from the developers of those two undeveloped projects.
The WPCA did not discuss either older project or connect its Aug. 19 actions to Kimco or either of the older projects.
GMW asked Santacroce for clarification about the history of the sewer-flow formula and whether the same methodology was used for every project in the tracking spreadsheet. GMW did not receive a response by press time and will update the story if one is provided.
Average Daily Flow to Norwalk Declines
During his regular sewer-flow update, Santacroce reported that Wilton’s 12-month average daily flow to Norwalk was 464,000 gallons per day as of Jun. 30, based on meter readings.
“Obviously this is lower than our high flow to Norwalk of the last four years, which was 550,000 gallons per day,” Santacroce said.
Santacroce said the decrease could be due in part to DPW’s continuing efforts to reduce the inflow and infiltration (I&I) of groundwater into sewer lines through cracks and other openings.
He said that Wright-Pierce, the environmental engineering firm conducting the I&I project, is in the process of completing its bid package for the next phase of the work.
GMW reporter Kathy Bonnist contributed to this story.
